Lenalee's Getting Married?
by anjecyte
Summary: The only way to wake up Komui comes back to haunt him. Allen x Lenalee; Disclaimer: I do not own DGM.
1. Misunderstood Misfortune

Title: Lenalee's Getting Married?!

Author: Evangeline

Summary: The only way to wake up Komui comes back to haunt him.

Rating: K+

--

The mouth is the source for all misfortune, right?

--

The Black Order was celebrating that particular day. They had received a call that a family seemed to be compatible with the Innocence, so they required a new string of exorcists in the same week. They threw their traditional parties and everything, but there was a heavy tension upon the new recruits' lunch table...

"Nee-sama is getting married?!"

The group huddled around a frightened-looking young man, who was nodding vigorously. "I heard it with my own ears! I swear!" A soft hush fell upon the table as they knew their comrade's hearing was acutely excellent.

A daring young woman spoke up. "How did you come upon the information?"

The man swallowed and looked slowly at his friends. "It was by accident, alright?"

They nodded. Upon seeing that they would keep to their word, his voice shook with excitement. "During the tour of the Headquarters, I had to use the restroom. A Finder showed me where, and it was located near the Science Department... And they were arguing about something." He paused warily, and blew his hair into his eyes. "They were talking about the Supervisor, Komui-san... They said that he wasn't as focused anymore. And that they... they should remind him that Lenalee was going to get married so that he shouldn't be slacking off."

Another girl, entranced by the tale, squeaked. "What did Komui-san say?"

The storyteller loosened his collar. "He... Uh, well, nothing. He was weeping."

The girl softly let out a breath. "I-I see... So Lenalee-sama is actually going to get married?"

The boy scratched his cheek. "Apparently so."

The group stared at their food in silence until a young man spoke up. "Should... Should we say anything?"

"I'm not sure... I mean it is Lenalee's private business..."

"As well as whoever's marrying her..."

A pause. A second more. A third then...

"Who- Who is marrying her...?"

--

_A few days later..._

"I found it!"

The amateurs looked up at their new leader. The storyteller grinned easily. "I know who Lenalee is marrying!"

This received several gasps from around the table by his friends. They egged him on, begging to know the mysterious suitor that they had all been dying to figure out.

The storyteller grinned. "Allen Walker."

After several moments of digesting the fact, they all nodded slowly, agreeing between themselves that he would be the most probable choice.

The girl from before nodded. "I've seen Walker-san and Leanlee-chan during the tour. They're definitely close." The others nodded; their adrenaline was building, and they started to add their input:

"I've seen him blush around her!"

"That could have been anything!"

"So? They always glance at each other and smile at the end of some joke or something, while he blushes and she just giggles. That's proof enough."

"It's cute; it doesn't make any difference. That's far from how dating goes."

"But I've asked around! All that I've asked had said that they usually go on their missions together too." 

"You get assigned your partner, stupid."

"I know that! I mean that they get assigned together because they're a good team!"

"That makes sense! They probably work together really well."

--

And so it began. The newcomers required this outlook as their new found passion; they conducted surveys for the Black Order employees, researched their theories, and discussed it all accordingly at their lunch table.

And the Black Order wasn't stupid. The Finders and the exorcists that were interrogated annually knew something had to be up. At first, the newcomers were thought of as some strange fan club in the form of matchmaking, but when they realized that the newcomers shouldn't have known a thing about the previous exorcists... Well, it sparked the idea. And soon, the idea of Lenalee Lee marrying Allen Walker spread like wildfire throughout the Black Order, Headquarters to branches alike.

--

Reever massaged his head with his forefinger and sighed warily as he walked to the cafeteria.

Lenalee was often gone lately because of her missions with Allen. Being probably the most sane person in the Science Department, he made the coffee for them all in his distaste.

"Thanks, Jerry."

He grabbed both trays from the Indian and groaned, but his eyes wandered to the full room. Finders and exorcists were split into groups and were discussing something like mad. '_What the heck...', _he thought.

"New fandom."

Reever turned around slowly. "What?"

The cook smiled. "Haven't you heard? Lenalee and Allen are apparently the Black Order's best couple. Aren't they getting married anytime soon?"

"Ma- Married?!"

--

_And thus the chaos begins..._

--

**(A/N: So continue? This is my first DGM fan fiction, but whatever. This originally just started as a random thought... x3**

**CC! R&R please!)**


	2. Clarfication Gone Wrong

**Title: Lenalee's Getting Married?**

**Author: Evangeline**

**Summary: The news is spreading, and the Science Department needs to make sure it's factual... And they ask... Kumoi himself?!**

**Rating: K+**

**(A/N: I'm so happy -and slightly surprised- to hear from so many people! For me any people who review me are loved. And also to me, ten is a lot. So I am going to continue! xD)**

--

Reever's mouth dropped as well as the tray he was holding. Coffee ran on the floor with the broken porcelain as he shouted, "Jerry, they're getting married?!"

Reever stared intently at the interrogated man, waiting for a reply. Then he realized that the said man was staring away from him with a strange look of... fear? He watched Jerry turn slightly pale, and creep back into the kitchen slowly with what seemed to be relief... It seemed the kitchen was Jerry's haven to Reever's eyes...

But before Jerry left, Reever heard him softly say, "Turn and you will understand; then run for your life."

Just with that phrase, Reever felt the hair on his back tingle. Behind him was a large quantity of killer intent that he hadn't noticed from before... Reluctantly, he turned his head sideways slightly, and in the corner of his eye he saw the entire cafeteria population standing and staring at him crazily.

--

Reever ran instantly, and the throng instantly followed as well. Cursing his luck and extreme lack of sleep, he sprinted (as well as he could, anyway) through the desolated Black Order Headquarters. Only then did he realize that the presence of all human beings had been lacking recently...

Behind him, he heard the stampede of the crowd, and the intent of determination. Strong, _strong_ determination. As well as questions, of course, such as:

"So you're approving the statement of the two getting married?!"

"I forgot to ask the Science Department. Of course!"

"Are you a liable witness, Science Department Worker-san?"

"Have you spoken with Kumoi-san recently?"

"No! Have you spoken with Lenalee or Allen? That is more important!"

And so on and so forth... But the questions were without shame, and completely about just the scandal. (Like the paparazzi, if that gives you a clearer image.)

Appalled that no one knew actually knew his name, and agitated that they were running him down just for the sake of the situation, he ran faster, fueled by his anger and annoyance. A large wave of disapproval and lack of adrenaline went through the crowd, and Reever was able to escape.

--

Exhausted, Reever threw open the Science Department doors, and as soon as he shut them, he ferociously locked them and barred them at the same time. (Impressive, no?)

And no one noticed that he did these actions or the fact that he was exhausted. And so he cursed his luck and lack of sleep once more but, the author too, seeing she is making him completely unappreciated in this story.

Anyway. He went away sighing all the way to his desk. The rest of the Science Department then sensed his presence and immediately crowded around him.

"Reever, what's wrong?"

"Coffee! Where is it?"

"Why'd you leave if you didn't get coffee?"

They all stared at him intently, and he sighed. Messaging his temples with his hand, he mumbled, "There are people out to get us..."

Shooting a look at the Supervisor, who at the moment, was taking a small excused break doodling, he whispered quickly, "There is a strong rumor that Lenalee is getting married to Walker."

Johnny, 65, Jake Russell and the other members sat down quickly and leaned forward in their chairs. Reever quickly explained what had happened and what had been the outcome of the rumor.

Shutting his eyes, and putting his head on the desk, he muttered, "But I know that our Supervisor probably doesn't have a clue or he would have mentioned it by now. It's not everyday his little sister gets married, right?"

Johnny nodded. "That's right... He would've said something, most definitely. But the question is if _we_ should say anything. He'll most definitely react."

The rest nodded.

"So should we? We could get rid of this whole thing right now if we ask him. Life is so hard in Headquarters...", Reever muttered.

The group gulped and looked at one another. Only 65 stepped forward.

"We can only determine this by only one thing. Rock, paper, scissors."

The group, taken aback by just the idea of the game for their fates, took several minutes to join completely.

"Rock! Paper! Scissors!" were whispered in soft, harsh tones... And then...

A character groaned. "No- No way..."

--

Reever, inwardly angry that they author caused him to lose, approached Kumoi as "cool" as he could. Shaking slightly, he controlled his voice and braced himself for the reaction of his strange leader. "Su-Supervisor? Did you hear?"

Still doodling on his paperwork (this time a scrawl of himself and Lenalee walking in a meadow with a happy sun), Kumoi answered. "What? I'm busy. And where's my coffee?"

Reever rolled his eyes inwardly and physically ran a hand through his hair roughly. "Nothing much; I don't have your coffee either. But there's uh- this rumor..."

"What about?" Kumoi's lips twitched, and he refrained from drawing them into a smirk.

Reever blew out a long breath. "Have you- uh... heard from your little sister lately?"

At those words, in his tone, and at that way Reever said them, Komui went into a state of a cross between depression and a tantrum. "What?! Lenalee?! What happened?!"

Reever threw up his arms defensively. "It's just a rumor, and she's fine."

Kumoi relaxed, but only after putting on a helmet and grabbing a pistol. "What is it?"

Reever gulped and looked back at the rest of the Science Department, which were currently hiding behind an overturned desk by the idea of Johnny. No one else dared to tell their supervisor those words, except Reever... (Even if decided by 'rock, paper, scissors.') And they just _had_ to make sure...

Reever coughed roughly and crossed his arms, clearing his throat. "Uh... yeah... Is uh- Lenalee... Er... getting married?"

And Kumoi exploded due to those words. As well as the Science Department due to that loaded pistol.

--

**(A/N: This will be fun from now on... Eh heh... And despite this story, I really do love Reever. x3**

**CC please! R&R as well! Reviews are love, and they are my particular fuel. xD)**


	3. The Bells of War Begin To Ring

**Title: Lenalee's Getting Married?  
Author: Evangeline**

**Summary: Now that he knows, what does the brother of the "bride" have to say about it?**

**Rating: K+**

**(A/N: Getting so much positive feedback is great; I'm rejoicing at my desktop every time I log on. I think I might write a chapter every few days or something seeing that school's officially out now. Me is a freshman. -)**

--

A giant crash. A slight rumble throughout the Headquarters. The crowd chasing Reever whom had fallen behind him clumped around several hallways leading to the Science Department. Depressed of their defeated access for information, they moped around in their groups aimlessly. Dust and small flecks of the stone walls fluttered around them, and no one payed attention in their exaggerated sulking.

"KUMOI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The crowd instantly chilled at the tone; everyone began to take notice of their strange surroundings. Standing rock still, they listened to an argument upstairs.

--

"You idiot! Baka, baka, baka!"

"Don't tell your supervisor-"

"Whatever. But you're paying for the damages again."

"What?! Why should I?! My actions were out of passion. Now-"

"You call blowing up your workspace passion?!"

"No! Now shut up and let your supervisor talk!"

"..."

"Thank you. Now what's this at my sister getting married?!"

--

Immediately, the crowd cringed. Instinctively, they inched slowly backwards towards several different corridors to their assigned rooms.

--

"A rumor you say? Well, who started it?"

--

The crowd, now in high alert, went full speed to try to escape.

--

"What are you talking about? The entire Black Order? Now, come on. Not all of them are that naïve."

--

An arrow went through all of them at once. _So we are naïve now?_

_--_

"What do you mean? The entire Order wouldn't think out of the blue that Lenalee must be getting married. The only people who would think that would be..."

--

A certain group of recruits cowered against each other, stifling their frustration and frightened cries.

--

"...new recruits", Kumoi finished. "However, we haven't had any in a while, so..."

A pause. A second. A third then...

"Kumoi? If you weren't such a slob, you'd-"

"I'm a what?! Apologize!"

"Sir, technically you can't say that. Have you seen your desk recently?"

"Shut up already. Geniuses have been known not to be tidy."

"Oh, really? Then-"

"_Shut up right now. All of you._"

"Of course, Reever-san."

"Heh?! Why did you all listen to him?!"

"I said, _shut up_. This is important."

"...Fine; hurry up."

"Like I was saying. There _have_ been new recruits recently. If you would pay attention to the memos we get and the stuff that you sign, you'd know there's a whole new family working here."

--

That said family fell into silent panic as the entire crowd automatically shifted to spot them cowering.

--

"So you think they did it?"

"They're the most probable suspects."

"..."

"Bring them to me."

"What? We're not you slaves; don't try to act all cool!"

"S-Shut up! Just tell me where to find them."

A sigh. "My hunch is just to look in the cafeteria."

"Fine, then."

--

The crowd immediately tried to disperse. And that they did. However, to save their own hides from Kumoi's wrath, they neatly locked the suspects into the cafeteria. Those said people, even the storyteller, were carried into the location with the force of the crowd, much to their disadvantage in such a multitude of panic. Locked in, their heartbeats beat quickly as it matched the approaching footsteps.

The sound of a lock opening, the door opened, and the Supervisor's head peeked into cafeteria and spotted the five members. Letting himself in, he stood above them, and looked down upon their frightened faces.

"Are you the five new recruits that said my baby sister was getting married?"

No one answered; instead their gazes dropped to the floor and the only one still even looking at Kumoi was the storyteller. The young man bravely gathered his wit and said quietly, "Yes, sir."

And it happened so fast.

--

Kumoi grabbed a chair and setting it in front of them, sat in it while he hugged his knees and cried. "Is she _that_ grown up now? _Why?_ Is she _trying _to_ abandon_ me?"

Alarmed a grown man was crying in front of them, the five quickly tried to comfort him:

"I-I am sure Lenalee-san will call you soon to tell you the good news!"

"Yes, she is the kind of person who is highly compassionate. I know that she still loves you as her nii-sama!"

"Yes! She and Walker-san will have a bright future together!"

At the point of mentioning Allen's name, Kumoi had a sudden glint in his eye. He straightened up immediately, and he pushed his glasses back. Solemnly, he said in a flat-out monotone, "So it is _Allen-kun?_ _Allen_ is the one _marrying_ my sister, is it?"

The five, again alarmed that such a strange man existed, feebly nodded their heads.

Kumoi stood and stared them down. "It is _Allen_, you said? _Allen Walker_, the exorcist?"

Again they nodded.

Kumoi, now throughly upset, staggered backwards, his thoughts running through his head. In his blind, upset moment, the five ran out, frightened of what would happen next. Kumoi, who did not notice, preceded with his thoughts:

"_Of course! Why did I not see it from before. Lenalee has always appreciated Allen... And they had taken to each other as friends so quickly... Amazing, that should happen. And being on missions so much together in the anime... And then having that telepathic scene in that manga chapter... And how she cried so much over him repeatedly! Of course, they would get closer. I can't believe I was so blind; now they're getting so hyped up that they're getting married..."_

Kumoi, shaking now, held his head up high, tears glinting angrily in his eyes.

"_Allen Walker shall be punished!"_

--

**(A/N: Okay, so now the real fun begins here. Lol.**

**CC! R&R!)**


	4. Unintentional Love Pt 1

**Title: Lenalee's Getting Married?!**

Author: Evangeline  


**Summary: Allen and Lenalee are together on a mission, but their Finders are acting a bit strange... Unintentional Love – Part 1. **

**Rating: K+**

**(A/N: I'm really sorry for the delay. Summer Break has actually interrupted my life this time. Sorry.**

**And to all who have reviewed, thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!)**

--

Now, let's take a break from watching Kumoi's sanity corrode and turn to the mentioned pair. You must have at least a little action between the implied couple, seeing this story is actually about them. So now, we visit the prosperous lands... of... Somewhere! ...Of no real importance...

--

Allen and Lenalee sat next to each other on the bench of a train station, far, far away from their two accompanied Finder companions. Who were, actually, watching them from the bushes at this moment. Because, well, if you had the chance to watch the it-couple of the Black Order, wouldn't you try to get anything out of it? From blackmail to the cutest moments! Something like that. Ahem. Anyway...

"Allen-kun, is there any Akuma nearby?"

Allen looked up at Lenalee suddenly surprised of such a question. "Well, no... Not that it seems to be... My eye isn't activating right now... Why? Are you worried?" He took this moment to look at her closer, bringing their personal space to a close. He cupped her face, looking straight at her very scrutinizingly. "Are you sick, Lenalee-san?"

--

Now before we get busy with the fluff here, we need to consider their watching stalker-like friends. For the Finders, who are so incredibly blind with guilt... and uh, their cute-fandom-fan-obsession or whatever, their vision was obscured. So to them, it looked so lovey-dovey, that they had to quietly hold back their extreme blushes and high-pitched gasps.

Keep that in mind, readers. _Keep that in mind._ Ahem. Anyway...

--

Lenalee flushed as Allen's good hand cupped her face. Stopping herself from swinging her legs from under the bench, she replied, "Well... No. But..." She looked away, jumpy at their slight touch. She looked out of the corner of her eye, trying to watch the Finders.

Allen squinted at her face again and moved his hand to her forehead. "Are you sure you're not sick? You're quite warm and your face is a bit red..."

Lenalee sighed. "No, I'm fine... I'm just worried about our Finders... They seem very thorough with their job." Clearing her throat, she added, "That's all. I thought maybe something was disturbing them..."

"Oh. Alright." Allen dropped his hands and turned away, back to look at the station. "Well, I guess it's their job. They're just trying to protect us. And we've had Finders to accompany us before."

"Well, I guess that's true. I still feel strange about this one however..." Lenalee put her hands in her lap, and shut her eyes for a few seconds. Their conversation returned to normal, yet something still didn't feel right to her...

--

The Finders, now bored, seeing their it-couple was not experiencing their small little moments, glanced at them every few other minutes or so. Until there was a small little ring on one Finder's communication device on his shoulder. The Finders quickly answered, scared of their caller's wrath. Can you guess who it is?

"Did anything happen between the two?"

The two Finders looked at each other in worry. One answered, "No, sir. Nothing of the sort has happened yet."

"Is that so?" The impatient rhythm of tapping fingers on a desk filled the awkward silence.

"Yes, Supervisor. There have been no actions between them."

"Fine. But make sure you still do your job. Make sure you find something or you'll get it when you come back to HQ. You know that's our only priority on this mission. Understand?"

"Yes, sir." The two glanced at each other and bit their lips.

"Good. I shall be with you later on; I have to conduct my research first. Just make sure you're keeping your eyes and ears open. Judge all suspicious activity related to our goal as much as possible. We need clear evidence, got it?"

"Yes, sir."

"That's our mission. Do well, the both of you. Lots of us are counting on the two of you."

"Yes, sir." Both sighed as they heard the click, and both stood as they heard the whistle of a train. Leaving the bushes, they found their two new subjects boarding the train together.

Watching their retreating backs, the two looked on in the distance. "This is our mission."

The other Finder nodded and said, "Let's do it well."

--

Lenalee watched the two Finders board the train and as they sat next to them in the booth, she asked, "Are you both new? I'm not sure we've met."

"No miss, we haven't been assigned to you both yet. But it's a pleasure to finally meet you both."

"Same to you... However, may Allen and I share one booth alone please? There are some matters that I need to discuss with him...?"

"Oh, of course!"

--

As they left, three people out of four made mental notes that this was going to be a _very __**long**_ trip.

--

**(A/N: Now this is the first time I've done a DGM fanfic, so I was wondering. Are they OC? Allen and Lenalee... Hm. They seem a bit different to me; I don't know. xD**

**CC please! R&R!)**


	5. Unintentional Love Pt 2

**Title: Lenalee's Getting Married?  
Author: Evangeline  
Summary: The future bride and groom accidentally hear about their own "wedding." Unintentional Love-- Pt. 2  
Rating: K+**

**(A/N: And I feel incredibly guilty too, by the way, for all of you who have waited so extremely long: school dragged me away from my beloved computer and a bunch of things so incredibly stupid and dramatic have decided to inflict their torture upon me... ;.;**

**Well, as a special treat, I tried to make this chapter as long as I could! Which, actually isn't that long in the first place... And there's lots of fluff! However, it became slightly inappropriate because I got carried away. I have to up the rating to be safe. So again I apologize to those who will not be able to read it. Sowwy.**

**Also, I do love my reviewers and those who are faving this, don't get me wrong! You make me feel so happy to have an audience. Plus, those who have corrected me about Komui's name, thanks! I want to hit myself in the head for my typos. Haha. )**

--

Lenalee smiled at Allen's confused face as she pushed him towards their private compartment. She waved back at their hooded and masked companions, and Allen followed suit a bit after and started to wave himself. The Finders, in turn, smiled at them but were inwardly slapping themselves for losing their prey so easily. They then chose a compartment close, but not too close to the exorcists, as to discuss their battle plan.

As Lenalee closed the door to their booth, Allen blurted, "What's wrong now? Private matters, you said?"

Lenalee plopped down on a seat, sighing. Seriously, she leaned forward and said, "Allen... I think the Finders are akuma."

Subconsiously, his hand ran up to his eye. "You know that's impossible."

She bit her lip. "Is... Do you think there's the possibility that these are high-level akuma? Maybe they have strong enough a disguise so that your eye can't activate."

He stood solemnly. "I don't think so. The Order wouldn't be so careless as to assign our own Finders as akuma."

"They could have been fooled!", Lenalee exclaimed. She stood, careful not to raise her voice. "Anything can happen!"

"Why are you so paranoid?", he countered. Allen looked at her in the eye. "Why do you always have to worry?"

"Is it bad to worry about the future? I don't want to see anyone hurt..."

"What makes you think that anyone will get hurt? I'll make sure it doesn't, if no one else will!"

"But have you ever thought about it? What if it fails? What if it won't work out?"

"Why are you saying that kind of thing? Do you want us to give up now? Is the possibility of a good future so impossible to you?"

Lenalee didn't answer and instead clutched her skirt. Allen, grinding his teeth together in frustration, he said, "I thought we were in this together! Why does it sound like you don't want to be together anymore? Do you not care?"

Lenalee suddenly plopped on the seat. Seeing the tears gathering in her eyes, Allen inwardly hit himself. "I didn't mean that", he said frantically.

"It's not bad to worry about a comrade, right?", she choked out. Looking away, her eyes glanced at the window and stayed there. Allen, unable to say anything, decided to sit opposite from her.

A heat of tension ran through the compartment. Allen began to sweat as the awkward moment carried out longer than need be. Their current position was so awkward and so tense. With hope, Allen leaned forward hoping to break the tension, but ended up leaning back into his seat in distaste as her aura overpowered him. He crossly looked away as Lenalee ended up disturbing his plan to talk to her as she kept moving her seating position and sulked. 

Allen felt a drop of sweat run down his forehead as he looked conspicuously out the window in hope to distract himself. He nervously watched the flash of the landscape as it passed by. Carefully, when the tension started to die, he said (while still hoping to live at the same time), "Lenalee?"

She, pretending not to notice his worry, looked up from her position. "Allen... Just... Haven't you noticed the Finders being so odd?"

"Well, actually no..."

He looked at her carefully, slowly observing if she was still angry or not. Instead, Lenalee pouted playfully. "Well, I'm not crazy, alright?", she smiled.

Allen grinned of relief. "Of course you're not crazy! You're my friend, right? No good friend of mine is crazy..." Muttering, he added, "Except for maybe Lavi... But he's a definite exception..."

Lenalee smiled. "The same can't go for you, though."

"What? Why is that?", Allen exclaimed.

Lenalee laughed softly and crossed her arms. "It's. A. Secret."

Allen exhaled exaggeratively and frowned. "You really are too cute..."

As the words were said, the new-found-yet-good atmosphere of their booth went dangerously dead; their positions went straight into a defensive arch, and they both stared at one another.

Lenalee paled. Her voice gone, she whispered after at a few moments, "Excuse me?"

Allen blushed. "Well, you know what I mean..."

"Which is what exactly?"

"Well... Um, you're... uh... attractive. And kind.... It's makes you really cute..."

"..." 

"Did I say something bad?"

"..."

"I did, didn't I? Well, today is just not my day..."

"No, you didn't Allen. But... do you really think so... about me?"

"Of course! I mean, you're definitely beautiful!"

"..."

"...Did I do it again?"

"Well... no. I want to thank you. No one has told me I was... beautiful. Except for my brother."

"_Who is probably the reason why", they both thought.  
_

_--  
_

Now it is time to visit the long-lost atmosphere of the Finders. It was tense with undecided-decisions-kind-of-tension. See, there was the factor that either Komui was going to kill them if they didn't get info, or that Lenalee or Allen would hurt them if they tried by invading their privacy.

So they were caught, in a few moments, deciding whose wrath would be worse. After several moments they decided it would probably Komui's, because they believed, with all of their hearts, that Lenalee would never be mad at them, oh never, never, never. Well, that might have been true for some other time. But this time that girl was in full alert in deadly suspicion of them, which technically they didn't even know. But still, she's a teenage girl with her own moments. Adolescence is an extremely complicated matter, especially in the hands of a female. They really should have known better. But anyway, that's coming up.

So the Finders tried to do their job. Which wasn't really that great in the first place, but yeah.

--

The Finders, in their current situation of lose-lose doom, inched slowly out of their booth. They crawled across the hall, crawled across the floor, and prayed that they would not suffer the wrath of the exorcists. As they stayed outside their door, they noticed the high tension immediately. Whipping out paper and a pen, they each took notes.

"_Anything can happen!", they heard Lenalee shout._

The Finders gasped, their minds of explicit, dirty, and bad thoughts that resulted in motherhood.

"_Why are you so paranoid? Why do you always have to worry?", Allen said._

Oh, my! Allen had a temper? Not good for love...

"_Is it bad to worry about the future? I don't want to see anyone hurt..."_

An abusive relationship as well?

"_What makes you think that anyone will get hurt? I'll make sure it doesn't, if no one else will!"_

Goodness, temper, temper, temper... It sounded dangerous...

"_But have you ever thought about it? What if it fails? What if it won't work out?"_

Definite motherhood.

"_Why are you saying that kind of thing? Do you want us to give up now? Is the possibility of a good future so impossible to you?"_

Oh, my... Such a determined lover, this Allen Walker. Was that bad or good? Hmm, impressive pause...

"_I thought we were in this together! Why does it sound like you don't want to be anymore? Do you not care?"_

They gasped in unison. A cancellation of the wedding!

As the Finders processed this information, they slowly went insane. How terrible this relationship sounded. As they became blind and only accepted the actually ridiculous thoughts that ran through their heads, they listened only at the high tension that resumed. Shaken, they stared at their notes, until they heard a giggle.

Oh my.

Blushing, they listened at the door expectantly and as careful as possible.

"You really are too cute."

Covering their mouths as to be careful not to let out accusations from their overactive imaginations, they inched back from the exorcists' booth, clutching their notes all the while. Sliding into their own booth, they collapsed.

"I think we don't get paid enough for this..."

"I don't either..."

"What was that about your pay?", an angry voice said.

They both shot up. "Nothing, nothing, Supervisor!", said the two.

"Good. Any information?"

--

As the Finders told of their horrific experience listening to the couple, they appreciated their audience to the highest extent. He went quiet at all the right places, 'oohed' and 'aahed' here and there, erupted in fury in some, and wept at the more dramatic moments. Although extremely ignorant mostly, the man was quite the listener.

"I... I am to be an uncle now? Is that it? Such a blessed child to have such an amazing mother..."

Surprised at the change of heart, the Finders smiled at their leader's unexpected kindness.

"Is too bad, though, that the child will never learn of the father...", the man said.

And the smile disappeared and there appeared horrified expressions in their place.

"I am sure Lenalee is not in such a stage. Since they are discussing it, perhaps it was only family plans!", one Finder exclaimed quickly.

"Still, that child will not learn of the father."

They sighed. "Perhaps it was just a lover's quarrel. Maybe we are jumping to conclusions, sir."

Oh, yes. Yes, they were, to quite the extreme.

"I don't think we are. I am very sure; it is in my gut!"

And that is why you do not trust Komui's intuition.

"Sir...", they both sighed.

"Good work for the day. Keep an eye on them."

A click.

The Finders looked at each other in hopelessness. There was definitely no way out.

--

Meanwhile, in the couples' booth, normalcy resumed.

--

However, in the front of the train, its two conductors sat quietly, observing the smoke passing by and the burning coal in front of them. One, a small girl looking at about the age of eleven or twelve, pouted quite expressively. The other, an attractive tall male, blew out a breath of smoke from his lit cigarette. Behind his messy hair, his eyes narrowed behind his large glasses.

"Road. What's wrong? It's not like you to be so grumpy."

The girl in turn, who was being quite silent, answered with, "I don't like her."

The man smiled. "Ah. Walker again."

He threw her a look that was a cross between pity and wonder. "He's an exorcist. What makes you think he'll fall for a Noah? It's not you personally, so stop sulking. If it bothers you this much, just kill the girl and get it over with."

"That's not a bad idea, actually..."

Surprised, Tykki Mikk threw in a quick, "Absolutely not."

The girl frowned, and put her head down on her knees. "I know Earl's orders. Stupid brat. Just because we think she might be the Heart..."

She frowned again, but she stretched and stood up. "I'm bored. You'd think your White form would be more fun."

He waved his hand dismissively. "I am fun. If you're so displeased, go play."

"With what?", the girl said, the smile creeping onto her face.

Tykki Mikk grinned. "Walker and that girl of course. Go have fun."

Road smiled as she exited her compartment. "Oh, I will."

--

The Finders, now quite aware that were dealing with a real-deal life situation, had no idea how to come across the territory of young lovers. They themselves had refused the idea of love (even if they were not invited into it quite often), and the Finders had completely focused their attention on guarding the world from such evil as the Earl Millennium instead of the intimate rush of passion that came when they saw a woman they cared for.

So, they realized, that they honestly felt that the two exorcists should have their privacy. Also, they realized that they couldn't face them without feeling guilty. As they pondered this on their way to the exorcists' booth, the train suddenly stopped.

Because a thing such as gravity exists and because eyesight is not generally good in dark conditions, the two Finders found themselves thrown to the floor, sprawling with their lack of balance.

--

Just then within the booth, Allen, who had been facing backwards to the direction of the front of the train, suddenly fell into Lenalee from the force of the shock of the train stopping. A few things happened.

Lenalee, able to foresee that Allen was going to fall into her, had moved gracefully to her left to avoid being smothered while bending low to prevent him from completely crashing. As she moved to her left with Allen in her arms, she had moved towards the door and caught her balance by grabbing the door's handle. Allen, who was falling, grabbed onto her tightly out of instinct. The combined impact of Allen's weight and force caused Lenalee to fall as well. However, because she held onto the door handle while falling, the sliding door opened, and the tightly attached people fell through.

As they fell through, the recovering Allen whispered, "Lenalee?"

"Ouch... Yeah, I'm fine. You didn't hurt me too bad."

The Finders shushed their over-active imaginations.

"Oh, that's good. Wouldn't want that now, would we?"

"True."

The Finders officially went onto Cloud Nine, nosebleeds and all.

"Where are you?"

"I'm under you! Can't you feel me?"

Oh my.

"Oh! Is that you? Wait, let me move..."

"Wait, not yet!"

"Why not?"

"You don't know we're you're going right? Just wait until the lights come on so you won't get hurt."

What a caring partner... Or was it another reason?

"So what do we do?"

"Wait until-"

--

Lenalee never finished her sentence. The lights had flickered back on, revealing the slightly embarrassing situation that both parties found themselves in. The sprawled out Finders were in a scrambled, separate position, their mouths agape. The exorcists... Well, Allen was basically on top of Lenalee. However, Lenalee's skirt had been pushed up and we all know how short it already is. To make matters worse, Allen had both of his hands dangerously close to the inner sides of her chest.

"Allen... Your eye!"

Confused, the three men turned to the girl. "Huh?", they said simultaneously.

Because, in this situation, an adolescent girl would have either excused herself or pushed the boy away. But because she directed her attention towards Allen's eye than anything else, it is generally surprising. Allen then subconsciously felt his eye. It had activated?

Automatically, Allen pushed back his sleeves, revealing his good hand and his deformed other; Lenalee jumped up and activated her boots gracefully. Both had the alert intent to kill.

"You are akuma, right?", Lenalee said. "Show yourselves!"

The Finders almost wet their pants. "HUH?"

--

Road, extremely amused, almost burst out laughing. How silly that brat was! Road had placed them in another dimension; the train in particular was sealed in a barrier, and her akuma were assembling themselves around it to soon attack.

But this suggestion; how strange of the girl to suspect their own Finders so quickly. Unless there was another reason why... Intrigued by that little tidbit, Road went into her own created dimension.

--

"Of course they're akuma. They're _mine_, after all", proclaimed the small Noah as she gracefully floated down. Gently setting her platforms upon the supposed train floor, she grinned wickedly. Meanwhile, Lenalee and Allen watched it distaste as she descended upon them. Quickly, as she cast a death glare towards the pair (but mainly towards the female exorcist), Road created a separate barrier around Lenalee. Alarmed by the sudden separation, Lenalee called out, "What?"

Road stuck out her tongue. "Sorry", she scoffed, "but I don't like you. The only one who's going to be battling me is Allen."

Fuming, Lenalee turned away. Unable to distinguish what he was feeling, Allen avoided Lenalee's aura of hostility.

Continuing again, Road said, "I'm not surprised you were so alert to distinguish my akuma", while looking at the pair. Turning to the Finders, she pouted, "However, I am a bit surprised that my akuma are not so alert themselves. How dare you be so unattentive!"

Road turned with her arms crossed, but shot a wink to the Finders. "You're caught", she mouthed. Speaking again, she said, "Maybe it would just be better to exterminate both of you this instant, hmm?"

The Finders could not comprehend what happened in the last few moments, and instead, were thinking of how nice it was, perhaps, to have someone to love instead of battling Noahs and akuma and the Earl Millenium.

Allen, on the other hand, exclaimed suddenly, "No! I will do it myself!"

Road, Lenalee, and the Finders, surprised, exclaimed, "Huh?"

"I will rather distinguish these creatures personally. Why should they live with such deceitfulness?", Allen said seriously.

Dazzled by his gallant reply, Road clapped gleefully. "Okay! Wow! You look so cool, Allen!", she giggled.

Lenalee, unfazed, pounded on the wall of her bubble. "Why...?", she whispered.

"I have to save their souls somehow. You know how Road is...", he chuckled sheepishly.

Road, however, was not thinking of this; she was thinking only of how Allen was going to be preparing to kill innocent Finders by his own hand accidentally. Lenalee, however, was not thinking of that either; she was thinking only of how Allen looked slightly... heroic when he was being kind, even to the enemy.

Turning suddenly, Allen transformed his arm; the innocence in his deformed palm began growing brightly. Now a large anti-Akuma weapon, his arm swung down on the comedic duo of the frightened Finders... Only to go upward at the last minute, and shred the air above them?

Road, Lenalee, and the Finders once more asked, "Huh?"

As Allen landed, the shredded air above the Finders began to solidify colorfully and shimmered slightly, revealing the remains of once-invisible akuma and the now-freed souls within. Allen once more went into the air, thrashing this way and that, and again, a shimmer of lights by freed souls filled the dimension.

A hand clapped Road's shoulder. A tall, tan gentleman, with a black suit and top hat, rolled his eyes at her. "You really make a mess when it comes to that Walker kid, don't you?", Tykki Mikk said sullenly.

Road blushed furiously. "I do not!", she protested. "Allen!", she cried, "how did you know?", as she stamped her foot.

Allen landed once more, and the dimension created by the small Noah child shattered. A breeze went throughout the now open space, revealing all of them to be in a meadow. Lenalee's bubble suddenly shattered as well, but Allen caught her instinctively. (Although he did not notice the two female presences to blush slightly; one out of her trembling heart and embarrassment, the other out of fury and jealousy.)

Unaware of how he affected the girls, he then pointed to his eye, which had then deactivated without the presence of an akuma. "I saw through it all", he shrugged. "The Finders don't have an akuma presence, and I saw the souls", he answered simply.

Road blushed at making such a fault. Teasing, Tykki Mikk whispered, "Were you so blinded by Walker to make such a stupid mistake?"

Road stepped on his foot. As Tykki Mikk reeled over in pain, she created a door with the wave of her hand. "We'll see each other again, no doubt", she called. As she glanced over to Lenalee, she stuck her tongue out again, and mouthed to her, "I really don't like you."

And with a few steps and the dissolving of a door, they were gone. Instead, they left behind a beautiful but cross young lady carried by a confused and tired young man, and two grown men next to them that lost ten years of their life because of a little girl who played a trick on them.

--

"So you two are not akuma?", said Lenalee quietly. After the battle, the dimension had disappeared to show them all situated in the middle of what was now a meadow. An abandoned train station surrounded them; a set of rusted train tracks were next to the group. The whole morning and the boarding were illusions played by the Noahs.

The Finders bowed as they said, "No, miss, we are not. I'm sorry if we led you on to thinking that we were akuma. We must have worried you a great deal."

Lenalee blushed. "No, I am to be sorry. If not for Allen, I may have caused you permanent injury. Please, I am the one to apologize."

Allen said decisively, "You really shouldn't be so hard on yourself!"

The girl snapped, "Are you kidding? I really screwed up this time. I wonder what my brother would think of me..."

Allen looked at the Finders pleadingly as soon as he heard the reference to Komui's wrath. "I'm sorry. She's not at a very calm state currently. But to ease her fears, may you answer something?"

The Finders glanced at each other quickly. "S-Sure..."

"Were you two being secretive about something?", he said solemnly, although winking dramatically. "If you were, then we could be able to say that Lenalee wasn't being too precautious..."

The Finders fidgeted. They thought of their two choices: the betrayal of their secrecy of their mission to their Supervisor? Or the duty to their superiors?

"Yes", one answered quickly. Avoiding the eyes of his shocked partner, he answered again, "Yes. We were hiding something."

"Like what?", Allen asked. Surprised of such a solemn and honest answer, both Allen and Lenalee were intrigued. If they were not akuma, what could they possibly have been hiding...?

"We had another mission than to accompany both of you", the Finder said. His partner watched in awe, as he noticed that he did not fear the wrath of the Supervisor as he spoke. "We were supposed to gather information-"

"For the Earl?", Allen snapped. Both stood up quickly. "Were you here to gather information for the Earl Millennium?", he continued.

The Finder frantically waved his hands. "No, no! For the Black Order! We are honestly from the Black Order!"

Both exorcists stopped. "How can you gather information on us for the Black Order... if we are from the Black Order?", Lenalee asked quietly.

The Finder bowed. "It was more on both of your personal lives. We were ordered to get information on your relationship and your upcoming betrothal."

Allen and Lenalee sat down with a thud. Blushing a deep red, Allen choked out, "You... You think I'm... I'm _marrying_ Lenalee?!"

"That is correct." The Finder, unaware of their reactions, continued with his answers. Looking at each other, both Finders began to cry of the shame of their mission and happiness because they were alive. "And now that we have observed you, we do believe you are right for each other. Please be happy!", said both of them as they bowed low to the ground.

In sync, the exorcists pointed to one another in denial and shock. Red-faced, they said in unison, "You... You think we're... we're getting _**MARRIED**_?!"

--

Another slip-up of the mouth! What is to happen next?

--

**(A/N: Reviewreviewreviewreviewreviewreview! Please? Haha. So, anyway, another chapitre up again. Hope you liked it this time as well! Stay tuned, please!)**


	6. Drunken Truth

**Title: Lenalee's Getting Married?  
Author: Evangeline  
Summary: We take a break from fluff and see how the other branches are affected.**

**Rating: T (Sorry for any inconveniences for this! -.-)**

**(A/N: Ohmygoodness. I feel so bad for not updating more often. But I'm on thanksgiving break, yeah? So I thought it'd be a good time for a new chapter. Thank you for your reviews and your love! Sadly, this is kind of a short chapter, but it was the only way I could get the story to progress in the way I wanted. Lol.**

**EDIT: I'm stupid. Bak is not Bam. ROFL.)**

**--**

A light gray fog wafted in the pub, leaving the smell of smoke and tobacco in its mist. Various people chattered loudly and gambled. The clacking of pool balls and the flaps of cards were easily heard. However, in a small unlit corner, sat two sullen men. One had a long black ponytail and the other had spiky red hair. They were both drinking. Hmm, can you guess who these people are?

"So Lenalee's getting married, eh?" Lavi hiccuped. The man never held his liquor that well unless he wanted to, and his body didn't seem to absorb it well tonight.

"Are you stupid? Yes, she is. It's even been confirmed by the Finders," Kanda sneered. "Are you upset or something, Bookworm?"

"Eh, not really. I mean, I have charm, so I'm not worried about not getting a girl for my own," Lavi shrugged. "But the pipsqueak? How was he able to land Lenalee?"

"Shorter people have a chance to being cuter. The two of them get along well too. All adds up," Kanda shrugged, as though his explanation was good enough.

"It's annoying though," Lavi sighed. "Especially Gramps. You'd think all the stupid gossip floating around would be enough but that panda has a soft spot for Lenalee."

Kanda slowly turned his head, eyes ready to kill. Lavi sweatdropped.

"Not like that," Lavi quickly said. "He's just all, 'This is it, Lavi. Not only do we get to record the war, we get to see the matrimony of two exorcists! Do you know how rare that is? Be glad it's in your generation.' Stuff like that. Annoying as heck, but whatever."

"I'm sure he is. A bookworm is a bookworm," sighed another person as another body dropped down across from them in their booth. "How's it going?" asked Bak.

Lavi raised an eyebrow. "You. Why are you here?"

"Komui sent me here to make sure you don't crush this place in a fit of drunken rage," he sighed matter-of-factly.

Kanda sneered again. "Isn't that beer in your hand?"

Bak winced. "Eh, might as well. Haven't gone out of the Asia Branch in ages... Might as well get some liquor. But dang. Allen getting Lenalee, huh?"

Kanda raised an eyebrow. "It's reached China?"

"You kidding?" Bak sighed. "It's probably reached Central too. Komui's got a rep, whether you realize that or not. Someone getting his sister to an alter let alone without Komui's blessing is a feat. Matrimony's a big thing, especially for exorcists," he said with one swig. He pointed a drunked index finger in Lavi's face. "You should know, kiddo. Being the next bookworm and all."

"Bookman. It's a bookman," said Lavi, a vein pulsing. If nothing irritated him more, it was someone talking about the panda. Or Lenalee. Either or. Which Bak was doing at that time. "And I do know that exorcists getting married are something. Most of them realize it's pretty fruitless."

"Fruitless?" Bak said. "What are you talking about?"

"Think about it," Kanda said solemnly. "We are all supposed to be dedicated to the Black Order. Trying to marry? That in itself is a dedication to something other than the Black Order. There's one weakness there."

"I'm not following this," Bak said, taking another swig of beer. "Explain."

Lavi sighed. "Are you really that drunk? You get married because you love somebody. If you're in the Black Order, you can't love. You can play around sure, but you can't love. Lovers are targets. One kidnapping, you'll want to save your lover. Protect them. You'll go mad for the other, you can't live without the other... It's fruitless."

"Love stinks," muttered Kanda. "Never trust it."

"Aww, you sure?" Bak hiccuped. "I think Walker and Lenalee's kid would be cute."

Lavi and Kanda looked at him oddly. "Gross."

"No, I'm serious. Whether it would be a boy or a girl," Bak laughed, "it'd be a looker. Heartbreaker. Don't you think?"

"No," replied the solemn two.

Bak sighed. "Whatever." The Chinese man suddenly stood, taking the last swig from his liquor. "Well, I'm gonna head back to HQ. Komui's expecting me. See you."

The two exorcists muttered their goodbyes.

--

"How was your drink?" asked a little girl, standing patiently in the middle of a cobblestone back alley.

"Oh, it was mighty pleasurable, Road," replied Bak. "Mighty pleasurable," he repeated as the slowly began to walk in the darkness of the night.

"You sure?" asked Road, scrunching up her nose. A smell omitted from the young man that did not please her senses. "Alcohol's gross."

"Ah, I suppose so," started the Chinese man as he grinned brightly. "But it was a satisfying drink nonetheless."

"Oh, really?" Road smiled. "How?"

Bak stopped. The dark suddenly let up from the rays of moonlight showing through the clouds. Just moments before where Bak stood, now stood the evil image of the Millennium Earl. "The truth comes out when you're drunk, dear," he replied slowly to her. "It's actually been the best drink I've had in a while."

Road smiled, catching the irony in his words and savoring them. "For some reason, I feel the same way, Earl-sama. What are you thinking?"

The Earl looked thoughtfully up to the moon. "I say we must be witnesses to a wedding, don't you think?"

Road's lip pouted suddenly, her dislike for Lenalee growing again in her trembling heart. "Why, yes. I believe we do." Pausing, she continued to work until the end of the alley. From her distance, she said, "May I get the door for you, Earl-sama?" Suddenly, a wave of her hand materialized an elegant purple door floating in mid-air.

"Why, thank you," he said as he passed through. Road looked once more up towards the bar where she knew Lavi and Kanda had been, if they were no longer there. "Be more careful," she whispered in the night, smiling eerily, "You don't want your friends to have a fruitless love, now do you?"

--

Lavi paused in the middle of the road, his nose itching madly. Letting out a loud sneeze, Kanda had a vein that began pulsing on his forehead. "Ugh!" cried the swordsman. "I told you to stop making noise!"

Lavi looked blankly at him. "Get a grip. I just sneezed," he grumbled. Yawning, he said, "Who would've thought you could get a hangover? Geez."

"I don't have a hangover," Kanda snapped. "Serves you right someone was talking about you. I bet they were talking about how lame you really are."

Lavi let that odd remark slide, knowing Kanda's mood got worse when he drank. "Whatever. I don't believe in those superstitious stuff, anyway."

Kanda stopped, shooting him a look of anger. "Let's just get to HQ."

--

"So did you guys blow the place up?" Reever asked dully as the two made their way into the Science Department. The three stood apart from the rest of what was possible the majority of the Black Order.

While we were currently immersing ourselves in Lenalee and Allen fluff, the Black Order had taken a hit which made them much more chaotic than if a Level 4 ever struck them. Frantically, the masses brought up background info, set up charts and polls, had live discussions by the multitude... Think fangirls, and then multiply it a hundred times.

There was even those who grieved over Lenalee's lost hand in marriage. Naturally, there was Komui, who had taken it upon himself to become both supervisor of the investigation and this odd grievance club. Many single exorcists that Komui once were suspicious of, now all cried over the same photo of Lenalee. Maybe it was the way that her ponytails were done in the photo that made them cry extra hard when Lavi and Kanda appeared from their drink.

Ignoring the men crying out over the death of Lenalee's innocence, Lavi sighed. "They're so troublesome... Geez, you'd think they'd shut up by now."

Reever blew out some tobacco smoke from his cigarette and shrugged. "Eh," he sighed. "I mean, it's a shock for everybody, not just them."

"Even Bak took it hard," Kanda unexpectedly said.

Reever smirked a bit. "Fancy knowing he had something for Lenalee too, eh? Too bad I can't blackmail him anymore. Everyone's so focused on either loving them together or hating Walker, you can't blackmail if someone says they've lost Lenalee's love for good."

Lavi looked around. "Oh, yeah. Where is that twerp anyway? Telling us he need to come here to talk to Komui... Flipping lied to the bartender saying we were gonna pay for his drink."

Reever's eyebrows rose. "He met up with you guys? You sure? Because we just had a video conference with the other branches about this whole wedding and its disastrous effects, and he was still in Asia thirty minutes ago."

Time stopped then for two exorcists, who plainly stood glaring at Reever.

Reever, whose luck has not improved since the last time the author mentioned him, gulped. "Crap," he muttered. "What now?" he asked, frustrated.

Lavi looked sheepish. "Uh, we met Bak at the bar."

Kanda coughed. "And we told him how marriage is stupid."

Reever sighed. "And Bak was still in China when you went out to drink. So you told some random stranger with the possible intent for disaster how Allen and Lenalee are basically flirting with danger, if not themselves." A vein pulsed on his forehead. "You're telling me we're in even more trouble than before!?" he whispered furiously.

The three looked around quickly, at the mass chaos the wedding corrected. After the bravery of the two young exorcists, more and more couples bounded up and arranged for an appointment with the chapel. People lost their focus fantasizing about Lenalee and Allen's child and his or her future pairings, planned their future with tarot cards... Anything. You name it. Fangirls, remember?

Reever sighed, knowing that even now, he could never get a break. "Alright. Who exactly do you think you talked to, then?"

Kanda shot Lavi a death glare, in which said, "You tell him."

Lavi sighed, a bit annoyed at how obvious the fact was after thinking it over. "I think.... I think we accidentally told a Noah."

--

As the story progresses, more misunderstandings cause another cycle of more mishap!

--

**(A/N: Kind of quick, but I hope you guys like it! Happy Thanksgiving! R&R! CC!)**


	7. Teenage Hormones

**Title: Lenalee's Getting Married?  
Author: Evangeline  
Summary: Now that Lenalee and Allen are in danger, what's going to happen to their so-called wedding? But most importantly, now that they think they're getting married, what's happening to the two of them?**

**Rating: T (Thank goodness it changed. Lol.)**

**(A/N: I'm in a writing mood. And the last chapter was a little bland, so... Tada! Lol. Although, Allen and Lenalee are on crack in this chapter. Haha. Please don't kill me.)**

**--**

Komui paced, wondering what to do. If Lavi and Kanda had told him right (and in private of course, as to not disturb the exorcists' obsessed state of mind) then his sister was in grave danger. Sure, his older brother instincts had always been on, but now they were in maximum overload. The man honestly didn't know what to do. If he told Lenalee he knew her plans, would she be upset? Would she shun him forever? Would he not even know his nephew!? (If she was pregnant).

No! he thought, his eyes glittering with angry tears. He is a brother after all! She knew that even the slightest, discouraging secret could not be hidden from his ears! She knew he would find out and support her, no matter how odd and unexpected a sin she committed. Alas... her husband...

Komui shook his head madly, sweating. To relinquish his duty to protect his sister, such a loving and caring and sweet and innocent girl... to an exorcist. To Allen Walker. And as much as he took Allen in for a nice young man and another person whom he wished to protect... It wasn't the same! Never could he forgive such a traitorous person... To take away Lenalee from him without permission... And not even to have the right to punish him? The robot hadn't been used for a while after that anime episode...

"UGH!" a scream echoed within the men's bathroom. Reever made a quick glance at it, sighing. His supervisor was too fickle for his patience. He looked towards Lavi and Kanda, who only raised an eyebrow at the direction of the scream.

"How can a man take so long in a bathroom?" Kanda gritted through his teeth.

"I can think of two ways, but Komui's leaning towards the former," Lavi replied.

The two other looked at Lavi. "And that is?" Reever asked.

"He needs his quiet time," Lavi grinned satisfactorily. "A man can't contemplate life's wonders in the midst of something ironic. It's like a quitting alcoholic going to a bar."

"Someone's had an experience," Kanda muttered.

"Or someone's just a bookman," Lavi shot back. "Either way, it makes sense."

Reever sighed. "Yeah, yeah, it makes sense. But when the heck is he going to come out? Doesn't he realize the more time he wastes in there just _thinking_ of disaster, the more disastrous it can actually be?"

"No. It's Komui after all," Lavi said. He stratched his head. "Eh, might as well."

--

"I don't see why you had to hit me over the head with your hammer!" Komui sulked.

"Get over it, it was the only way to snap you out of your trance," Lavi replied.

Komui struggled furiously under the mountain of ropes that strapped him to a chair. "But you didn't have to make the hammer grow! You know how big of a concussion I must have now!? That hurt like-"

"Komui. Either way, Lenalee _and_ Allen are in danger. Tell us where they are."

Komui's face fell, and he muttered something inaudible.

"What was that?" Kanda snapped. "Just say it already!"

"I don't know!" Komui said, and his angry face was replaced with sad, puppy eyes that flowed like a river.

The three stopped. "You... don't... know?"

Lavi blew out a breath of impatience. "You don't remember where you sent Allen and Lenalee? Weren't you the one who approved their mission?"

"Yes! I did!" Komui shouted back. "But those Finders took it upon themselves to hide the lovely couple! And they broke contact with us!"

"What!? Why!?" shouted the three.

"They... They thought I would interfere..." Komui said, pouting. "As if."

The three didn't want to point out the obvious. Trying to investigate was interference after all. Reever sighed. "Do you remember where you sent them? They couldn't have gotten far."

"The last time we received any contact from them was on some train headed for Hungary," Komui said.

"When did this happen?" Kanda said.

"The same day I started the wake of Lenalee's innocence," Komui snapped.

"Why didn't you tell us that sooner?" Lavi shouted at him.

"So the bottom line is that they're still in Europe? Good," Reever interjected, silencing the quarreling three. Trying to not lose more time, he sighed, "Let's get working boys."

--

The Finders, Winston and Timothy, were taken aback by the request just said. Lenalee looked shyly around, and she whispered, "Is it alright if Allen and I have the room to ourselves for the day?"

The three men flushed (the one most noticeable Allen) and Lenalee smiled sweetly. "It's nothing wrong," she said a bit annoyed, "I just have matters to discuss with him."

The Finders then smiled. "Well, my lady, is there anything you'd like for us to do while you discuss with your fiancée?"

Lenalee smiled out of relief. "Yes, actually! Since... we're trying to elope," she said, casting a look at Allen, "we never found a good church. Can you try looking for one this afternoon?" she smiled.

The Finders, automatically smiling at such sweetness, saluted. "Yes, ma'am," they said sincerely, and they stood a bit straighter when they walked away.

As they disappeared from view, Lenalee sighed, grabbed Allen's wrist, and they disappeared into a room with four beds.

"So what's wrong now?" Allen said to her, eyebrows raised.

Her face cross, she replied, "Do you have any recollection of me or you proposing to one another? Have we ever even talked about dating? How the heck does the Black Order believe we're getting married!?" she nearly shouted at him.

_**FLASHBACK**_

"Marriage?" choked out a confused Lenalee. "You think we're... getting married!?"

The Finders bowed again. "Do not worry, miss, although your secret is out, we will not reveal your whereabouts. We have already severed the communication transmitters given to us by your brother."

"My... My brother!? He's the one who thinks I'm getting married!?" she shouted.

Allen dismayed by how hard she was taking this news, took her hand. "Calm down!"

Lenalee blinked. "You think we tried... to elope?" her eyes still steady on the Finders.

"Yes, ma'am," said Finder Timothy. "But we acknowledge your choice. You wanted this to be private rather than a large wedding, I presume? I'm sorry that Road unexpectedly altered your plans-"

"The mission," Allen suddenly said. "Was it even real?"

"Yes, the mission was real, but another pair of exorcists have taken care of it. Once the supervisor realized your plans, he asked us to supervise the two of you to make sure you're serious about your marriage," Finder Winston said. "And now we believe it."

"So... You completely think that _we're_ the ones who chose the marriage? Not the Black Order arranging it for us?" Lenalee asked, suspicious.

"Why of course!" both Finders said.

"Then can you find us an inn to stay in? I think my bride and I should rest," said Allen uneasily.

"Wait, say what!?" Lenalee exclaimed.

"Yes! Absolutely!" said the Finders.

_**END FLASHBACK**_

"No," Allen admitted. "I suppose not."

"Exactly!" Lenalee whispered animatedly. "This is a trick!"

"What kind of trick is it to tell your employees to get hitched?" Allen sweatdropped.

"No, not that!" Lenalee said impatiently. "The Black Order obviously wants us to get married! Why else would they think we are? We never discussed it ourselves. If we try to back down now, then it would just cause chaos! So, they want us to get married!" While talking, her arms were flailing everywhere, and by the end, a fist landed in her palm.

"So... Why do they want us to get married?"

"Well... We're both exorcists," said Lenalee. She paled a bit, and she cleared her throat.

"So?" Allen raised an eyebrow.

"Well, if we... uh, produced a child," Lenalee said, looking carefully at his reaction, "we'd probably make a pretty talented child."

"I'm sure," said Allen, slightly losing the color in his face. "But why would the Black Order want our child? It may be attractive, I suppose... But?"

"No," Lenalee said, laughing at his reason. "Two exorcists equals a new exorcist baby. Get it? We're probably... produce a child very powerful and submissive to Innocence."

"Ah..." Allen nodded. "That does make sense."

Lenalee smiled, "Doesn't it?"

"But if they wanted us to get married, why didn't they just come out and arrange it? Why try to investigate and all this?" Allen waved around.

Lenalee paced, and her face suddenly lit up. "Maybe they think we're compatible! Maybe they wanted this to be of our own choice. Perhaps the Finders are actually matchmakers!"

Allen stood up as well. "That's right! That makes perfect sense!"

Suddenly, the two friends began making up theories and Black Order conspiracies. Sighing, they sat together on one bed.

"But now that we found out about it... Do you still want to marry me?" Allen asked.

Lenalee blinked. "I'm... I'm not sure. Even if we married each other out of our own will... Putting our child through experiments... I don't think I could handle that if we had a child."

"Very true," Allen muttered. "I couldn't either. So... what do we do?"

Lenalee looked at him. "I have no idea. Do you think we should just go along with their plan and pretend we don't know and that we're in love?"

Allen blinked a little and gulped, hoping he didn't appear too crestfallen at her reaction. "Oh... Well... I guess?"

"Or maybe" said Lenalee, "it's all a plot!"

"Another one?"

"Yes! Maybe the Black Order is trying to send us a signal that we should be together at all times! Maybe it's a message!" she smiled. Allen chuckled. As he didn't respond, Lenalee shrugged. "I really don't know, Allen. Maybe they just want us to marry. Maybe it's just some subtle order from the higher-ups... Either way we'd be married, hmm?" Lenalee nodded, trying not to sound too eager.

"I... I guess so," Allen replied. Suddenly, his face lit up. Taking a glance at her, he coughed. "Should we practice then?"

Lenalee choked on the water that she was drinking from the canteen Timothy gave her. "Excuse me!?" she said to him. "Practice what exactly?"

Allen blushed and looked away. "Uh... It's really stupid... Never mind," he said quickly. "I just," he paused looking at her. Making eye contact, he gulped. "Never mind."

A bit frustrated, insulted, and intrigued, Lenalee bit her lip in curiosity. "Just tell me."

Allen gave a deep sigh, and he turned towards her seriously. "When people get married... they get more intimate right?" he said in a hoarse whisper.

Automatically, the tips of Lenalee's ears got red. Intimacy!? Her eyes got wide, but she still kept them steady on Allen's... Her heart pounded furiously within her chest, and her blood circulation seemed to go faster than usual. Was Allen asking what she thought he was asking? "Yes?" she answered cautiously.

Allen nodded again. "And married couples usually... uh, you know. They do _that_," he whispered nervously.

Lenalee nodded. "So... you want to do... _that_... with me?" she gulped.

Allen smiled shyly, and Lenalee's heart got a little bit faster. "It's uh... just... I haven't done it to anyone before. So if I do it with you, then it'll be my first time."

"Oh... Really?" Lenalee's heart slowed down a little... His first... Her first... Would it be that bad?

"But why now?" Lenalee asked him. "Why now of all times?"

"Well, we have you know... Privacy," Allen said. "And we need to get prepared for the wedding, so I thought we should practice."

Lenalee shot him an odd look. "Don't you mean the honeymoon?"

Allen looked at her strangely. "No, not at all... We can always take a vacation. But during the wedding, the bride and groom have to kiss each other right? At the end when they say their 'I do's? And they have hug, hold hands... Stuff like that." Allen blushed. "I just thought you'd... want to get comfortable with me before we'd have to kiss in front of God. Or kiss in front of the Black Order? Or... whatever. That's all..." he drifted off.

"See? Never mind," he said in response to her silence.

Lenalee slightly smiled to herself. This kid... No, this man was a bit too much for her. And in that moment, Lenalee almost wished they really were getting married.

"Allen," she said softly.

"Yes?" he asked shyly. "What's wrong?"

"You're right. You're absolutely right," she grinned.

"About what?" His face turned a bright red.

"We should practice," she said. Immediately, Allen stood up in response. Something about the whole 'kiss' thing made him feel nervous.

"Are you serious?" he choked out.

Lenalee nodded. "We're getting married, Allen. We... We need to play our parts."

--

Both exorcists, Lenalee and Allen, decided to put a "Do Not Disturb" sign outside their room. The Finders, in turn, were very curious whether their two heroes were getting along, but were at the moment too busy trying to decide the best church in which they can bring those two in matrimony.

"Okay, Allen," she said. "We're going to be standing like this, okay?" Lenalee held his hands comfortably in her own. "We need to make eye contact with each other."

"All.. Alright," he said firmly. "Right."

"And then the priest is going to ask both of us if we take each other's hand in marriage. Okay?" she asked. "You're following this, right?"

"Yeah," Allen smiled. "I am."

"Good," Lenalee said, her voice cracking a little bit. Her mouth went dry as Allen smiled, and her heart became a bit rebellious again. "Uh, right. Okay. Allen Walker, do you take Lenalee Lee as your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do," he said softly, a small smile curving up on his mouth. Lenalee took a deep breath in as well, intoxicated with how sincere he seemed, and she softly smiled. "Good job."

"It's not that hard to do," Allen smiled.

"Right," Lenalee said quickly, wanting to avoid his gaze, but didn't. "Now ask me."

Allen stood upright, grinning, and said, "Do you Lenalee Lee take Allen Walker to be your lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health?"

"I do," she said. The odd thing for her was... She meant it. She honestly believed every single thing that was coming out of her mouth, every single thing they were saying right now to each other... And she almost kind of wished it really was real. "Nice addition of the 'in sickness and in health' part," she said a bit too fast, eying the floor.

"You're nervous, right?" Allen said, his eyes narrowing.

"No, not at all," Lenalee smiled.

Then Allen grinned. "You haven't either!" he said to her, his eyes wide.

"What? Get married? Of course not," she said, confused.

"No, not that," Allen laughed. "Have you kissed someone else before?"

Suddenly, Lenalee's ears went red. True, she had never kissed anyone besides her mother or father... And her brother on the cheek. But never on the mouth, never had she dared kiss anyone on the lips before. "No," she said. "I haven't."

"And this is why we practice," Allen laughed. "Isn't it?" he said a little gently.

"Yeah," Lenalee said. "It is."

And automatically, their heads started to move towards each other. Lenalee and Allen automatically closed their eyes, and each of them soon felt the breath and the body heat of the other person. But Lenalee knew it would happen. They both stopped at the same time, no longer even an inch away from one another.

"Lenalee?" Allen said softly. His breath was hot, and her heart beat faster knowing that it was so close...

"Yeah?" she said, almost a little impatiently. "What is it?"

"Do you love me?" Allen asked suddenly.

Lenalee, unable to take it, quickly closed the gap of space between the two of them. She wrapped her arms around his neck in the way someone would embrace someone else, and she kissed him. Allen, whose eyes had opened when they stopped in front of each other, had realized how much he really had come to like Lenalee. (Had come to love?) Her eyes shut, her mind vulnerable, Allen was tempted to ask Lenalee if he loved him. And he had. But he wasn't expecting her to kiss him.

As Lenalee simply just planted her lips forcefully on his, the kiss became a bit more... well, uh, passionate. Allen, as a man, instinctively understood what was going on, and he had closed his eyes himself. He took hold of her face, suddenly having the command of how aggressive the kiss really was going to be.

After... uh... a few moments... Okay, so they ran out of breath alright? Allen and Lenalee broke free of each other, and they met eye contact while Lenalee's arms were still around Allen's neck, and Allen's hands had drifted to the base of hers. Both of their thoughts were clouded now with a slight fuzzy warm feeling in their insides. I think it's called love, right?

"I do," Lenalee grinned.

Allen blinked, his mind disoriented. "Wait, what?"

"I do," Lenalee smiled, saying the two words slower. "I love you."

--

Win and Tim, our two Finders, just arrived back from grocery shopping. Not taking any chances with the primitive food they witnessed being made in their inn, they took it upon themselves to buy from somewhere else. Cautiously, they approached the Forbidden Room, hoping to coax the lovers out with fresh bread and good news of a respectable church.

"Allen? Lenalee?" called the two of them as they knocked.

Hearing nothing but silence, Tim decided on a fatherly impulse to open the door. However, when he opened the door, there was no one in sight. The two Finders, now in paranoia, ran into the room. However, a blue piece of paper was left on the bed, reading:

_Dear Timothy and Winston, _

_Thank you for taking care of us in the time of our upcoming betrothal. We would have loved it for you to be witnesses to our wedding, but we cannot risk the freedom of our child. However, we have made you two godparents to our little one. Please do not worry. While you were out, we found a church that we both agreed to, and we will be married soon._

_Sincerely,_

_Allen and Lenalee Walker_

The Finders, pale and worried, almost cried. "They ran away!? Again!?"

--

Reever looked up at the empty building, a satisfied smile on his face. Asking everyone on the streets and everything, he discovered that the Finders had stashed Lenalee and Walker in this inn. He grinned. "Good job, Reever, good job," he said to himself.

"Okay, men!" He shouted to his other three (and slightly grumpy) companions. "Let's end this fiasco."

--

**(A/N: Reviewreviewreview! Please? Lol. But yeah, again, another quick chapter. Hope you guys were entertained. But what's gonna happen? Dun dun dun... Rofl.)**


	8. Freedom Doesn't Get Sweeter Than This

**Title:** Lenalee's Getting Married!?

**Author:** evacyte

**Rating:** T

**Summary:** Escaping the Finders, Lenalee and Allen celebrate their 48-hour engagement.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything about this but the crack aspect of it all.

**(A/N: For the purpose of this chapter and the next… Reever's group came to the hotel a day **_**after **_**Lenalee and Allen run away. They didn't come immediately after their disappearance, like it sounds in the previous chapter. [If you guys want me to edit the previous chapter so that that makes more sense, just tell me]).**

* * *

"So… we have to wait?"

The elderly priest chuckled softly and leaned forward on his clasped hands. He looked at the young man in front of him—oh, he was definitely young, never mind that white hair—and tried to project a patient smile. "Yes," the priest answered Allen for the third time. "You have to wait. This church requires a two day waiting period for elopers."

The young boy slumped a bit in the chair across from the priest's desk. "Sorry," he mumbled, shyly looking down. "I was just excited to… uh, wed my cute wife."

The priest's eyes widened a bit in an amused expression and looked to the young boy's "wife" sitting next to him. Thin with long black hair, the girl laughed nervously. "We've just put in a lot for this journey," she nodded. "Uh, lots of miles of travel… and psychological obstacles," the young woman said.

"I see," the priest laughed. He relaxed and leaned back in his chair, cocking his head at the young couple in front of him. "I'm sorry… and it's not my business, but… your ages? How old are you?"

Allen grinned, sitting up. "We might seem young," the boy said in a rush, "but we're really quite ready for this decision! We just need to get married quickly, because we're under the threat of—"

Lenalee punched Allen in the arm, prompting him to shut up. Shooting Allen a look, she looked up to the priest and smiled sweetly. "Excuse my fiancé, Father. I'm 16, and my fiancé here is 15…"

The priest grinned wider, raising an eyebrow. He looked from Allen to Lenalee to back to Allen, laughing all the while. "Right. 15 and 16, right…" he muttered, closing his eyes. "Well," the priest grinned. "I still can't give in! You'll have to wait the usual time, like any other couple!"

Lenalee smiled at the priest with complete composure; Allen sweatdropped, failing to hold a believable smile. They nodded with the priest's overly excited response, unable to say anything else.

See, dear readers, what had happened was this: just an hour before, our loving Finders—Tim and Win—had decided to get fresh food for our young lovers. Before they left the inn, however, they left the list of approved churches to Allen and Lenalee. In the small time window in which the Finders bought bread, however, Allen and Lenalee were enraptured by their love for one another. As they made the startling epiphany that they liked making out, wanted to get married A.S.A.P., and dreamed up a married fantasy world in which they were going to have a child, our young couple decided their non-existent child wasn't going to be subject to any Black Order experiments, so they ran away as dramatically as possible! And this! _This_ is where our story begins! St. Antonietta's Church. And to be honest, you guys would probably be reading a wedding right now except—

"I apologize for my uncle," the young nun said sheepishly. Offering a quick shrug to the disappointed couple, she led Lenalee and Allen to their living quarters. After another round of Allen asking the priest to reconsider his and Lenalee's situation, the priest was to his limit. As stubborn as the couple was, the priest was not going to lift his personal two-day preparation rule for elopers (one day for chapel preparation and gathering legal documentation and the other for… the couple to "evaluate their relationship before their marriage"). And although Allen continuously counter-argued that there would be increasing doom and danger with wait time, the priest found it totally normal for our young couple to claim sanctuary, thank you very much. Calling for Adelaide—the only young nun of St. Antonietta's Church—the priest asked Lenalee and Allen to enjoy their will-be safe stay, and may he and his soon-to-be-wife have a good two days of rest.

Climbing down the stairway to the sanctuary, the nun continued her apologies. "He's very… well, eloping is touchy for him," she laughed.

Allen sighed, casting an annoyed-yet-amused look at the nun. "But why?" he laughed.

Adelaide smiled kindly, releasing a withheld breath. Stopping in the stairway, she crossed her arms, looking away from the couple. "I'm a child of an elopement," she said softly. "His brother and my mom… They were happy, you know. Just 'cause they married young didn't mean there were marriage troubles," she sniffed, wrinkling her nose. "But… they died early. Accident, you know," Adelaide nodded seriously. "I was barely a year old when it happened, but my uncle… well, he never really got over it," her eyes softened. "Loved his kid brother, that he did. Loves me too," she laughed, rolling her eyes. "Ever the over-protecting Father through and through, really," she sighed.

Lenalee smiled at her, squeezing Allen's hand (of which she had not let go since their marriage requests with the priest). "You must have a happy life, then?"

Adelaide grinned, returning to descending the stairs. "I miss my parents. I love them, but… Uncle's been so kind to me," she laughed. "Scares off all the courters. It's almost a curse, but most of them aren't my type, anyway!"

Reaching the end of the stairs, the three of them passed through two old wooden doors and entered a small room, complete with a small twin cot, a long mirror, a wash basin, and a dresser. (Think a small dorm room. Except with just one bed, and that it's in a fictional alternate universe near the end of the 19th century).

"Well," Adelaide said, embarrassed, "this is where you'll be staying."

"So this is the sanctuary?" Lenalee said softly, taking a step forward, her eyes glancing around the room.

Adelaide smiled at the girl's curiosity. "We don't really get much trouble in our town… but this isn't our sanctuary," the nun laughed. "It's actually down the hall, but… to claim sanctuary extends to all of the church grounds. The actual sanctuary's a large prayer space, after all, and I thought it might be too awkward to just stay in. This is just a regular room…" she offered sheepishly.

Allen smiled. "A room's a room."

Lenalee grinned. "And it's quite clean!"

Adelaide smiled, blushing. "Thank you," she laughed. "I try to keep this place clean," she muttered. Casting a look around the room, Adelaide failed to look nonchalant. Shifting her eyes at the couple, she smiled shyly. "Do… um… Do you mind if I see them?"

While they noticed her apprehensive behavior, the couple was clueless as to what the young nun was asking them. Blinking back at her, they asked in unison, "See who?"

Adelaide blinked a few times before stuttering, "Oh, uhm, not really _who_ just, uh, _what_, I guess… Uhm, trinkets? The rings and… uh, yeah… Your wedding rings?" she said, flustered. "I—uhm—I just find them… uh, pretty. And if… if I _could, _I'd _love_ to see your dress too. If you need altering, I'm quite good actually…" she muttered to Lenalee. Looking at the floor, Adelaide chuckled nervously as the couple didn't answer her. "Usually, elopers just want to show off… We're such a small town so… we actually get a lot of them because of really strict marriage laws in the closest city. I've gotten used to those who come through, I guess. You know, the happiness, the excitement. Nothing else much happens around here so… but my uncle really does perform a beautiful ceremony though," she nodded earnestly, despite her lack of connected thought. "Though most of them ask for immediate marriage, the elopers always wait the whole two days. Find it quaint, kind of like an early honeymoon, they say. The town, the church… And we're _basically _off the map, so nobody gets in the way. We've always performed every request…" she finished weakly, wincing as she finally looked up.

The couple stared at the shy girl, looked to each other, and then back at her. Both of their faces flushed, and Allen looked away, coughing. "The truth is… It's not that I don't want to show you our rings… I just… haven't bought her a ring."

"Oh," said an embarrassed Adelaide, smiling again, looking at her feet. "Of course, I understand. Money's hard to get in these times—"

"No…," said Allen, staring off into space, losing himself in the thought of buying Lenalee a ring. "If I need it, I can get money easily…"

When Adelaide raised an eyebrow, Allen held up his hands in defeat and laughed. "No, not that, like… _stealing_. I'm provided with funds… through my…. work? And if I really need it, I can do a few tricks. Street performance, actually—"

Lenalee coughed, stopping him there. She smiled gently at him and then back to Adelaide. "We… uh, just didn't really think about that," Lenalee finished.

Adelaide's eyes widened. "But you can't have a marriage without the rings!"

* * *

"…just don't pick anything… _expensive_."

Lenalee stared at her no-longer-white-haired "fiancé" next to her, as they stood awkwardly in front of a jeweler's store. Adelaide—distraught that they hadn't even come with rings—persuaded her uncle to convince them that it was necessary for the ceremony. The priest, who knew the rings were part of the rite of marriage to be performed, agreed with his niece. And so—since Allen said that they had the funds—our loving couple was bestowed with the mission to get the materials for the marriage. To ensure that they would be "safe", the priest sent Adelaide as well, as though she were a professional bodyguard. But while the girl wasn't—like seriously, not at _all_—a suitable bodyguard for two undercover Black Order exorcists, Adelaide was at least the best wedding planner-organizer-artist our couple would ever meet.

With the exorcists heavily disguised (Adelaide also enjoyed costume making and theatrical cosmetic art, how convenient), they walked into the village without any problems. Upon agreement with the two exorcists, Allen would choose rings for Lenalee and himself; the women would procure both a dress and a tuxedo at a dressmaker's shop and a tailor-who-secretly-enjoyed-experimenting-with-fashion's shop, respectively.

Allen—still enraptured by something in the jeweler's shop—did not look at Lenalee, even though he had been technically interrupted from the rings he was staring intensely at. "And why not?" he answered her, still distracted.

Lenalee smiled softly, gently tapping her fingers against the glass. "While it's tempting… I feel weird charging our purchases like that to the Black Order."

"Well," Allen grinned, finally turning to her, "they're the ones who started this all, right?"

Oh, they had _no _idea.

Lenalee laughed at her fiancé's honesty. "Yeah… though we're the ones really going through with it. Jeez, what a weird organization," she laughed forcedly, a little flushed. While Allen once again focused on the rings, Lenalee's eyes focused on him. A little embarrassed, she let herself give him a once-over. There was something incredibly charming about Allen… the way his gray eyes crinkled, focused intently on the rings before him; the way his mouth scrunched over to the side in thoughtfulness… but she also noticed how… mature he seemed. Though little time had passed while Allen was in the Black Order… it seemed as though he was older… taller, maybe? Realizing that, Lenalee stood straighter, realizing that Allen had grown a bit since her last memory. She was actually looking up at him! When had that happened? Cautiously, she shifted, stealing a glance of Allen's thoughtful look from her default below-the-chin angle, until—

"I think I know what I'll get!" Allen—grinning brightly—turned straight to her, meeting her eyes directly.

Lenalee, blushing slightly, didn't recover well. "W-What?"

Allen smiled gently at her, mistaking her flustered state of mind as worry for expenses. Grinning, he said brightly, "And you're not going to worry about the price at all!"

Lenalee, suddenly realizing how dry her mouth was, coughed and nodded and took another long swig of water from her canteen. "Yeah, I trust you," she waved in front of his puppy-like, expectant face. Calming down, she breathed out a withheld breath and whispered to Allen, "Do you think it's safe to use this money? The Black Order… it'll give them a way to pick up our trail, and—"

"Leah!" Adelaide called, waving at her from across the street. The young, red-headed nun pointed to her wristwatch impatiently.

Lenalee smiled, holding up a finger as to ask for one more minute. Turning to Allen, she pouted. "Should we use the Black Order's money?"

Allen smiled gently, brushing Lenalee's black hair back into the wide-brimmed, ribboned hat Adelaide had picked out for her. Raising his eyebrows in a nonchalant look, he ducked under Lenalee's hat and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. Whispering in her ear, he said, "If it makes you uncomfortable, then no."

Although embarrassed, Lenalee did not turn away. Her heart beating faster, her breath caught, she whispered quietly, "Then what will we do?"

Allen, his face set in the most relaxed expression Lenalee had ever seen it, smiled even wider. "I'll take care of it, okay?" Seeing that his fiancé relaxed a tiny bit more, Allen grinned mischievously and added, "And when you finish at the dressmaker's, come back to this shop. Everything will be settled by then."

Confused and suspicious, Lenalee narrowed her eyes. "Adelaide and I have only allotted two-and-a-half hours to pick out the clothing. How could you possibly have enough money by then?"

Without a word, Allen's silver eyes darkened slightly. "You should go with Adelaide," Allen laughed, his eyes flicking over to the waiting nun. "I think she's a bit mad, waiting for you and all."

Lenalee, looking at the almost-in-tears-because-she's-never-late nun, sighed. She shot Allen a suspicious look, and then quickly crossed the road without a second thought. As she arrived on the other side, the nun forcibly grabbed her wrist and began powerwalking. "Al—Dear!" Lenalee called back to him. "Please be careful!"

Allen continued to wave back to his almost-wife, waiting patiently until she was out of sight. The jeweler, who had not had good business lately because of another-and-apparently-more-classier jewelry store twelve doors down, approached Allen out of sheer curiosity and the lack of anything else better to do. "That your girl, is it?" the bearded jeweler squinted in the distance.

"Yes," Allen said calmly. "I plan to marry her."

"Aye, congratulations, good man!" the jeweler winked. "She's a mighty fine lady. You must be looking for a ring then? Thinking about visiting my shop?"

"Ah, yes," Allen said, turning back to the store. "I plan on getting a ring from here… there's a ring I saw on the side that made me think of her immediately, and I don't fancy the other store's wares at all. But this ring… I just… don't plan on paying for it," he said softly, giving the jeweler a hard stare.

The jeweler, now uncomfortable and a bit frightened, straightened up immediately and backed away. "Look, son, if it's money you don't have… we can strike up a barter or a deal or something… there's no need for violence—"

Allen sweatdropped, raising his gloved hands in defeat. Adelaide—artist that she was—had powdered over Allen's scar, dressed him in the most proper clothes she and her uncle had, and given him a dapper midnight black wig to wear, as to hide his white hair. And—in addition to his classy bowler hat and maroon tailcoat combo—the contrast of the black wig with his silver eyes proved to make the 15-year-old look much older. "Oh, don't worry, I'm not a robber," Allen chuckled nervously. "I just… have a plan," he said, smiling. "How would you like a few of your customers back?"

* * *

"You know… what could he have possibly done?" Lenalee asked Adelaide for the fourteenth time that day. Arms held out, the bride-to-be spun around in what she and Adelaide had mutually decided upon: a minimally decorated, almost-floor-length, white chiffon princess gown with lace sleeves.

Adelaide, squatting and examining the girl around in a circle, sighed again and said, "I don't know how he did it, Miss Lee." Pondering the thought, she laughed and said, "But he did! And he will love seeing you in this dress!" Adelaide sighed happily, reaching out to smooth down the chiffon skirt.

What the two were referring to was Allen's tendency to perform somewhat suspicious miracles. The two ladies were a very good pair as far as time efficiency went. At Adelaide's insistence, Lenalee's opinion on clothing became much more blunt. Under the pressure of time, Lenalee automatically ventured to styles and colors she was attracted to, and Adelaide's artistic eye helped put it all together. Within forty minutes, they had already picked a relatively cheap handsome tux; upon purchasing it, however… the shopowner would not take Lenalee's check to the Black Order. All he had said on their way out was, 'Your lover has taken care of it', with a sly wink.

Lenalee, both flustered from the wink and the use of the word 'lover' by the shopkeeper, was skittish the entire walk over to the dressmaker's. And upon the nun and the exorcist's arrival, the shopowner warmly welcomed them in a manner similar to the experimental tailor. Smiling knowingly, she explained that: a) Allen had already promised payment before they had even arrived; b) and Lenalee was dating one heck of a guy for him to go through such lengths for her.

Annoyed, Lenalee spun around, turning to look in the mirror as to see the back of the gown. "You know," she said crossly, "that idiot always does that."

"By idiot, you mean Al—Roy. You mean _Roy_, your husband-to-be?" Adelaide said brightly, despite her mistake.

"Yes," Lenalee said, sighing to herself in the mirror. "He's just so… That's so him! To think of something and go straight into it without thinking about the consequences, and whatever he's doing—so shamelessly—to just do it for me and not—"

Adelaide, growing concerned, grabbed a hand that Lenalee had been waving about. "Is that… necessarily a bad thing?" she asked quietly.

"Well, no," Lenalee grimaced. She sighed, giving the dress a last look and declared, "It's not a bad thing. It's annoying… and worrying, but I'm the one marrying him," she said softly. Glancing up at the mirror, she smiled in defeat. "I'm actually going to marry that idiot kid, with a wonderful new friend as a witness, in this beautiful dress. What are the odds?" she laughed.

More comfortable with Lenalee's softer side, Adelaide winked. "I'll go grab a veil, alright?"

Letting her… nun-friend-wedding planner scan the shop for veils, Lenalee took a closer look into the mirror, surprised to see her disguise for the first time. Her signature high ponytails gone… her long, black hair swept back into a bun, the slight, barely detectable dashes of red rogue, and the subtle applications of powder and lipstick… her figure without the presence of her Black Order uniform… Lenalee realized she looked normal. She brushed away a loose curl from her face and took a step back. Staring back at her was a normal girl. No akuma, no Millennium Earl… no Innocence. Blinking at the reflection, her heart froze. If she hadn't been compatible, would this have been her future? Would—somewhere, anywhere else—would there have been this Lenalee Lee, a bashful bride eloping to a lover? Would she have been happier, being an alternative Lenalee in a life without war; being a woman, without being a soldier? And if Allen hadn't been compatible to the Innocence either… would they have ever met? Would they even be what they were like now?

Breathing deeply, Lenalee closed her eyes. _10… 9… 8… 7… Calm down, calm down, calm down…_

"Lenalee?"

Lenalee—taken by surprise—opened her eyes, finding the young nun peering up at her curiously. Adelaide winked at her, trying to lighten the mood. "Cold feet, huh?" she teasingly scrunched her face at the girl.

Lenalee blushed, shaking her head. "What? No! I just… I feel… really dizzy for some reason," she said softly. Dazed, Lenalee looked at the thin veil in Adelaide's hands, outstretched to her like an offering. With it so close to her, the exorcist could see how pretty it really was. The veil, of an extravagantly detailed, thick white lace, was indeed a great counterpart to the style of Lenalee's dress; Adelaide's artistic eye hadn't failed. But Lenalee, smiling softly, closed Adelaide's fingers over the veil and gently pushed it away from herself. "Adelaide," the exorcist smiled, "I have this feeling… that Allen would like it more if there's no veil. Nothing hidden," the exorcist smiled brightly, "with everything out in the open."

* * *

"Hey, magic kid!" the jeweler called out the door of his shop. "I just received a wire from the dressmaker. Your lady's coming! They finally finished!"

Allen—who had been currently juggling both his feelings for Lenalee and several personal items of people in the crowd below him—expertly flipped into the air, letting the chair he was balancing on (on just one leg, mind you) fall from underneath him. Catching the discarded items in mid-air, he landed softly on his feet, passing out the items to the respective bewildered owners. The crowd that Allen had been building over the past few hours had grown exponentially. Allen, using his disguise to the fullest advantage, had constructed the alter-ego magician-performer "Roy", doing tricks to attract passerby; using the crowds, he subtly drew the townspeople and tourists from the other half of the street to this one. The other jeweler—"accidentally" robbed of his patrons—challenged "Roy" to a poker game to be watched by the crowd.

One card duel later, Allen had obtained several of the other jeweler's best items, only to reveal that—while the bands were real, valuable, polished, fine metal and gold—the shinier and brighter and "classier" gems of his shop had only been finely crafted colored glass. After some fights in the street between buyers, some somehow-still-classy begging from the classier jeweler, and some drama that could only exist in such a quaint, we-live-for-tourists-kind-of-town, Allen managed to merge two small businesses, and got the clothing's prices waived because the now-shamed classier jeweler promised those shop patrons some quality items in exchange. And while that seemed to be a bit much for one afternoon, let's get real people. That kid _definitely_ went through more crap trying to deal with Cross Marian's debts.

"Now!" Allen said, smirking at the audience. "My final trick!" he exclaimed in a loud voice. A hush fell over the crowd, until another dramatic waves of "shh"ing calmed the crowd down to an eerie silence.

Heart pounding, Allen lifted his head as "Roy". Eyes gleaming, he scanned the crowd, watching as many of them froze up on the spot. Nervous, he trembled a bit before outstretching a dramatically pointed index finger. "The lovely lady right there!"

The "lovely lady" whom he pointed at sputtered and blinked in surprise. As a blush tainted her cheeks, she stammered out, "M-Me?" As Lenalee seemed unable to get her bearings (especially under the cheers of the crowd), Adelaide sneakily coughed to the side and hip bumped Lenalee towards the front. As Lenalee stumbled forward, the crowd dissolved to leave an obstructed path to "Roy".

Walking hesitantly forward, she placed her hand into Allen's outstretched one. Allen grabbed her hard, spinning her to face the crowd. Raising their held hands, he initiated a joint bow. "Our last trick is not something you will forget!" he promised the crowd, clapping excitedly to raise the morale. "Now let me just instruct the lovely lady here", Allen grinned, smirking at Lenalee. Turning his back to the audience, he mouthed, _Just follow me._

And she did.

The act itself was quite wonderful. As Allen turned back to the crowd, there was a look of determination in his eyes, and everything seemed to slow down around their excited gleam. Lenalee soon forgot where she was. Each of his movements seemed natural to her: he had grabbed a large metal sphere (apparently the classier jeweler's favorite decoration in the history of ever), and had learned to balance on it without keeping both him and the sphere stationary. Once comfortable, slowly and cautiously, he moved the sphere closer to Lenalee, and he bent down to her to offer his hand.

Lenalee—as relaxed as ever—reached out to grab it. Suddenly, he grabbed her forcefully, sending her body into the above him. Quickly, he ran backwards on the sphere, trying to catch the falling girl in his arms. He made the catch (though Lenalee helped, considering her agility). Concentrating hard, sweat dripping down his face, Allen caught his balance. The crowd roared, watching an upright man carry a girl as effortlessly as possible on spherical ground.

As the crowd laughed and hooted and applauded, Allen whispered to her, "Stand on my hands, and I'll send you up. Could you do a few flips?"

"Only if you catch me," Lenalee smiled.

Allen's eyes glinted happily. "Always."

Now thanks to Lenalee's hidden agility, her twisting her body (in a full dress nonetheless) to stand on Allen's hands silenced the crowd. Suddenly, as the couple finally reached a balanced, maintained upright position successfully, they erupted in surprise, laughing in discomfort, oohing and aahing in fear. Allen sending her into the air practically _killed _them.

The push up sent her flying, and as she did one—no two… no _three_flips into the air, the crowd screamed bloody murder in surprise. But she was alive. To a trained exorcist, this was natural. The twisting of her body, the aerial height, the feeling of space and wind, of drowning in sky… she was free. Freer than she had ever felt in a long time.

As soon as Allen had sent Lenalee flying, he somersaulted off the sphere, and rolled it away to make room for her. While considerably high for just the momentum of his push, his timing needed to be right. His eyes followed her, his arms outstretched, as her falling form was coming back down to the earth, back to him—

And he caught her, back in his embrace. Lenalee, seeing his position on the ground before her last flip, had twisted her body to land flat, back facing down. Allen, noticing that, had his arms positioned to catch her in a cradle. And to that, the crowd exploded into the chaos of surprise. _Who were these two? Did he pick her because he knew her? They were amazing! Can you believe that? I can't even comprehend what just happened!_But the noise fell on deaf ears, at least for the two lovers. Allen had searched her face immediately after impact. Was she hurt? Did that work? Is she okay?

And when Lenalee's own explosive laugh rang through the air, Allen finally broke. He gently let her feet touch the ground and as soon as she was upright again, he kissed her. He leaned into her lips, and the crowd sighed and hooted and smiled but they didn't matter. The lovers had deaf ears.

Lenalee couldn't think. As she pulled back from Allen, there was too much in the background for her to sense. There was the crowd, the ecstatic sensory overload of too many people in such a small space, and all she wanted was to focus on Allen, to see his eyes, to watch him smile, to see that blush rise and confirm if he really does lick his lips when he's too happy after they kiss, and she was searching for his eyes, his eyes, his eyes… they're so clear. They're so full, bursting, and wonderful, and not even silver right now, but a little purple and red and green and blue and amazing and—

"—lee. Miss Lee. Will you marry me?"

And suddenly, he was kneeling. When had that happened? Head spinning, her thoughts still cloudy, Lenalee looked down on the man she had been looking at the whole time. He was kneeling, a small jewelry box opened to a silver band with a small, simple, glittering purple gem set in the center.

Slowly, Lenalee kneeled down to the ground, now eye-level with Allen. Leaning into his face, she whispered a small "yes" to his lips, before closing her eyes and breaking the distance between them. The crowd erupted into applause._  
_

Lenalee had never felt freer.

* * *

**(A/N: Ah, it's so good to be back! So sorry for the wait, guys! I hope you've all been doing well. Thanks for the love while I've been absent; it really makes me happy to see that my readers stayed true to the story even while I was gone. Seriously, all of you are amazing!**

**So… I tried** _**super**_** hard to make this and the next chapter as long and as possible, with as much character development I could squeeze out. The way it's set up in my brain… well, I should reach a conclusion hopefully in the next few months, so stay tuned! I'm trying to make up for being gone for so long! I give remembering and dropping, but after I saw all the support… well, you **_**will**_** get an ending!**

**Reviews and CC, please! Thanks for all the****love!) **


	9. Kyrie Eleison, Reever Said

**Title:** Lenalee's Getting Married?

**Author:** evacyte

**Summary:** Despite being _so_ close, Reever stumbles upon another (horrible) twist of fate…

**Rating: **T

**Disclaimer: **D. Gray Man's not mine, yatta yatta.

* * *

"Hold it! Stay where you are!" a shout rang across the empty hotel room. Timothy and Winston—still cowering over Lenalee and Allen's note—paused from their excessive sobbing, and looked up to find four strange men appearing to attempt a hold-up. A man with spiky hair and excessive dark circles walked slowly to the Finders, his face set in a scowl of contempt. As he walked towards the two, the heavy thud of his boots matched their racing heartbeats. Who was this? What could these people possibly want with two Finders? Where they going to die—!?

Reever squatted to their eve level, barely managing to keep his eyes open, and yawned. "Hey," he said smiling, giving off an aura of repressed frustration. "Where are Lenalee and Walker? Did you put them in a separate room?"

The Finders looked at each other, and seeing the state of their wet, snot-nosed faces, realized that—as messed up as this mission was—there was still that glint of determination in their eyes. True love was real, they realized, and they were going to defend it until the end of time! For Walker and for Lenalee! No matter who these people were, the two of them would—

"I don't think they're here," Lavi said impatiently. "It's pretty obvious, Reever. Four beds, two Finders, no exorcists—"

A vein on Reever's forehead pulsed. "Thank you for being so enlightening," Reever turned around to face Bookman, Jr. "But these two are pretty shaken up, so why not get to the point slowly?" Reever growled at Lavi. The redhead coughed and looked down, muttering about how scary people needed more sleep.

"Now," Reever sighed, turning to the two Finders, smiling softly. "We just need to find those two kids. Can you tell us where they are?"

Timothy bolted up, his eyes shut and his body trembling. "We will never betray them again! While we initially accepted this mission with grace from Komui-sama, I personally do not think that we can fulfill out all his expectations!" Crying now, two mini-rivers flowed from the Finder's eyes. "And they're so in love!" he whined. "And it's so beautiful, I mean—why should we stop it, you know?"

Winston piped up. "At first I thawt they were pret-tee income-paaaaaat-able," the Finder barely said intelligently. "But," he hiccupped, "they go so weeeeeeeeelllll together! And gosh, the way that they look each other," Winston hiccupped. "Ugh, there's just so much tension and stuff. It's like… their love radiates from their eyesssss," the Finder said airily, swaying this way and that while his dazed face looked at ceiling.

Reever sweatdropped. "Right," he said warily, taking notice of the Finders' flushed faces. "So tell me… as protectors of love or whatever," he growled, "why the hell are you two drinking on the job!?" he shouted at them.

* * *

Much to Reever's annoyance, the team of four wasted even more time. Due to the Finders' drunken states, any type of interrogation had the same response: slurred, sherry-smelling breaths that prophesized Lenalee and Allen as the world's first "true love". After a few hours of the Finders' sleeping off their first encounter with depression-induced alcohol consumption, they awakened to a late afternoon, and an eerily lit hotel room with Reever sitting at the end of their beds.

"Hello, you two," he said slowly, the awkward sunlight casting eerie shadows on his face. "Now. Where are Lenalee and Allen?"

And… it all came flooding back to them.

Immediately, the Finders both burst into tears, jumping out of their beds to bow low in front of Reever. Reever, flustered, stood up immediately at the sight of the two begging. "Wait, what the—"

"WE LOST THEM," they both sniveled, crawling to grab the ends of Reever's lab coat.

"THEY WERE SO SWEET TO US—"

"TOLD US THEY WANTED TO FIND A CHURCH AS SOON AS POSSIBLE—"

"WANTED TO GET MARRIED RIGHT AWAY—"

"ELOPING WITHOUT CONSENT, YOU KNOW—"

"LEFT THEM HERE TO GIVE THEM PRIVACY—"

"TIMOTHY GOT HUNGRY, SO WE BOUGHT FRESH BREAD BECAUSE THE INN HAD WEIRD LOOKING MEAT—"

"AND THEY WERE GONE WHEN WE CAME BACK!" they both cried.

Reever sighed. "…not again."

Kanda stood up, stabbing his sword into the floorboards, his temper flaring. "…why"—_stab_—"are"—_stab_—"they"—_stab_—"so"—_stab_—"elusive!" he hissed, grabbing Mugen and stalking out of the room.

"Kanda, wait," Reever sighed.

"No," said the swordsman angrily. "No! We haven't slept in days, and we hit another dead end?" he said hoarsely. "This is idiotic. Whatever those two want to do with their lives, let them. We have more drastic things to concern ourselves over, like the Holy War!" he roared, shutting the door.

Lavi sighed, following after him immediately. The senior bookman gave Reever a sympathetic look, and said, "The two of us will take care of Kanda. The man's just tired. Make sure you get the information we need," he shifted his eyes away. As the bookman approached the door, the "panda" called out to him. "Oh, and Reever? Do it quickly," the older man said, as he made eye contact with the scientist, "because I fear we are running out of time."

With the three other men gone, the Finders visibly relaxed. Reever looked down at them from where he standing, opting to sit, and motioned for the other two to do the same. "My colleagues… believe that Walker and Lenalee are both in danger," he said calmly. "They are already targeted by the Earl because of their exorcist positions, but now, because of this _love_," Reever sighed exasperatingly, "they're in a deeper threat. They're being targeted as an entity, to be destroyed not as two exorcists, but as one love."

The Finders flinched. "You want to find them to protect them?"

"First and foremost… that is our most basic mission," Reever replied. "The second is to hopefully… talk them out of marriage."

"BUT THEY SHARE A TRUE LOVE—"

"Right," Reever said, holding a hand up to silence them. "True love, okay. But it still doesn't excuse the fact that it's stupidly dangerous. So, if they could hold out from their hormones for a few more years for… I don't know, like maybe—_when the Earl, Noahs, and akuma are no longer a threat to the world—_then I don't care. They can get married and have a family and beautiful children, or whatever."

Winston blushed. "So you also think their child would be gorgeous?"

"That's pretty irrelevant," Reever said tiredly. "Anyway," Reever said, taking out a thermos of coffee, "do you have any hints as to what church they would possibly go to?"

"Uhm… we had this list… I kinda slipped it under their door before we went grocery shopping," Winston said.

"Perfect! Do you remember the list?" Reever said, excitedly.

Timothy twiddled his thumbs. "I… Well, I wrote down about fifteen churches in a 20-mile radius from the inn—"

Reever sweatdropped. "I see. No memories?"

Timothy shook his head. "But there was a specific criteria, so I was able to remake the list, so that's no longer a problem…"

"…criteria?"

"Stain glass windows with angels depicted on them. Incorrupt clergy along with a concrete history of very moral Fathers. No deep connections with the Black Order. Marriage able to obtained within two days," Timothy whispered.

"That is… thorough," Reever said. "…And if you've already reconstructed our target locations, that's quite helpful. But… what was that about forty-eight hours?"

"Marriage through the church can take up to six months in advance. But for those who elope… there are Fathers willing to perform smaller ceremonies in secret. As long at is through God, they say… then marriage is okay," Winston replied softly. "Most of these ceremonies could be immediate… but the churches in the local vicinity accept at least a two-day minimum wait time so that the church can prepare."

"Well, that's perfect!" Reever smiled, standing up. "We were able to find you all within five hours when we arrived in this town; if we start searching each church now, we could easily find the exact church and scout around it."

The Finders smiled uneasily at each other, tears starting to brim in their eyes. "Do you think it would be that easy?" Winston said to Reever.

"Reever-sama… we have already tried that," Timothy almost inaudibly whispered. "They disappeared around mid-day yesterday. We searched all of yesterday afternoon… Started with the farthest churches first—thought they'd want to gain the distance—but they weren't there… We got back last night and searched the nearby ones, but there was no sign of them either… It wasn't until this morning that we… we-we g-gave up," Timothy started whimpering.

"And that's when I brought in the alcohol," Winston said sullenly. "Sorry, Reever-sama… but… we were going insane."

"Wait," Reever said. "If it takes a day and a half to scout all of them, and they put in the request yesterday afternoon at the latest… and it's already the afternoon for today… " Reever's heart dropped into his stomach. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

Timothy and Winston began to cry. "THEY'RE GOING TO BE KILLED ON THEIR WEDDING DAY, AND IT'S ALL MY FAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUULTTTTT," Timothy began to sob, banging his head softly against the wooden floor.

Winston sniffed, looking at his companion strangely. "I'm an accomplice too! At least we committed treason for true love together—"

Timothy started a small stream with the amount that he was crying; desperately looking around for the sherry, he crawled around the floor in hysterics. "No, idiot! It's my fault they suddenly rushed to the altar!"

Reever's heart dropped even further than he thought was possible. "…suddenly rushed? So they hadn't always wanted to elope so quickly?"

Timothy found the bottle and began to chug. "Noooooooo, they seemed so apprehensive at first, when we had just told them we knew, you know," he cried. "So careful and tip-toe-y… I felt so bad for putting them in that kind of chaos—"

"They were talking about their elopement so weirdly," said Winston quietly interrupted, looking at his friend with sadness. "They kept asking us where we had heard such things… if the Black Order had arranged it themselves. We told them that it was okay their love was real! That they shouldn't be ashamed of it no longer! It was okay if we knew!"

Reever almost slapped himself to keep from rolling his eyes. "So what did you do?"

Timothy looked dazedly at Winston. "Win had no part in this," he said sullenly. "But I spiked their canteens."

Oh, yeah. Reever's heart had _definitely_ just dropped to the floor. "…you… did… what?" the scientist whispered.

Tim took another drink of alcohol. "All Finders are given necessary equipment. Since we aren't compatible with innocence, we have to protect ourselves somehow… and the Black Order started this thing where we even got drugs from the Science Department."

Reever coughed, looking away. "Yeah… that's not my division," he muttered embarrassedly.

"Doesn't matter," Tim shrugged, staring into the bottle of sherry. "Anyway, since we got the drugs, I thought it was okay to share it with them. All I wanted to do was try to make up for putting them on edge like that. So I spiked their water. It's tasteless; a small amount is fine for anyone. It does neutralize your inhibitions, but in doing so—you don't hesitate with your true feelings. Not only that, but you're basically chemically altered to feel fantastic! I take it sometimes when I feel down," Timothy said, smiling.

"Yeah, because that's what it's for…" Reever muttered. "Okay," he nodded, reassuring himself that it was the _drugs _and _not _the hormones that were making this idiotic situation blow up all over the place. "So what chemicals are we talking about?"

"Dunno," Tim said. "I just know it's catalytic. After one dose, you release tons of endorphins for the next 72 hours; after 12 hours, you start releasing dopamine."

"So that's why…" Reever muttered, torn between amusement and frustration. "You gave them an anti-stress drug that turned into a instant love potion…"

"Yup!" Tim winced, giggling simultaneously. "And to think I gave them both a huge overdose!"

* * *

**Meanwhile, in the closest church only 3 miles away from the inn…**

"ACHOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Are you okay, darling?" Lenalee said sweetly while smiling at Allen, holding his hand. Dang. Was this a drugged couple or _what_.

"Of course, sweetie," the white-haired teenager replied, grinning at her loving response. "I feel great! I have no idea why I sneezed so suddenly…"

"Oh, it's so dusty in here!" said the young nun beside them cheerfully. After spending yesterday shopping (and the whole night in exhaustion _from_the buying), the three of them spent the day nicely by playing games together and cooking and telling stories and procrastinating on wedding preparations. The nun smiled mischievously, and said, "The way you've recounted your adventures with Miss Lenalee… I don't think you're getting sick, Sir Walker. There's no way you're getting sick by tomorrow."

"Well," Lenalee pouted playfully, "you _were_feeling a bit weak this evening when I woke you up—"

"No," Allen interrupted, putting a hand up as he glanced around the room. Averting his eyes, his eyes dropped to Lenalee's pouting face. He leaned over easily, whispering in her ear, "I just felt a really ominous aura… Like killer intent…"

Lenalee's expression shifted slightly, but with more surprise than fear. "Like the Noah?" she said softly.

"No, it wasn't… evil…" Allen whispered back to her, subconsciously brushing her hair behind her ear. "Just… pissed. An angry aura… that wanted to cut me up."

"Allen," Lenalee said softly, averting her gaze from her soon-to-be-husband bashfully. "That sounds like an akuma," she said worriedly, not even noticing the unusual sparkles that were appearing in her welled-up eyes.

"No… it was just… a really hazy, pissed off feeling…" the exorcist muttered softly to his soon-to-be-wife soothingly. "It wasn't an akuma; my eye would have activated… but it still felt really… familiar," Allen muttered, his eyes glazing over, remembering a distant, faded memory of a time in which he pissed off a certain ponytailed exorcist…

Adelaide (who had been sitting there the entire time) was both fortunately and unfortunately out of earshot. As she saw the two of them start emitting sparkles and heavy whispers and (what she had thought was) lusty bedroom eyes, she immediately stood up, feeling both excluded and intruding at the same time. As she shot up from the dinner table, the couple just turned to her, unaware of their overwhelming presence of loooooooove.

"Are you okay, Adelaide?" Lenalee said worriedly.

"What? Me, oh yeah!" the nun retorted awkwardly. Inching backward, she put her hands up in defeat of the blissfully unaware couple. "You know… I'll just… take leave. Check to see if my uncle has anything else to do to prepare for tomorrow morning's ceremony…"

"Oh," said Lenalee, brightening up. "Okay! Should we help?"

"No!" the nun said enthusiastically. "You… just feel the bliss! Carry on, all that," she muttered, embarrassed. "I'll come back to see you guys later," she said cheekily. "I'll fit your dress and tux and everything, alright?" she called.

And with that, she ran off, leaving a small cloud of dust and two confused exorcists in her wake.

Though Adelaide had indeed left our two exorcists, it didn't mean she didn't like them. She found them both… slightly intimidating, but she found their relationship adorable and sweet, and she was so happy to have them both as her company.

So that's why what happened next unsettled her.

Approaching her uncle's office, she bounded up to the door gleefully, only to find it a smidge open already. Careful, she treaded towards it lightly, about to knock until—

"You… You want those children?" the nun heard her uncle stutter. Adelaide immediately shrunk back at his tone; her fist—only poised near the door just moments before—was taken away by her free hand, and she brought both hands to her chest instinctively, slipping into a position in which she hugged herself. Her heartbeat escalating, her mind screaming, she looked around in a dazed confusion. Why had she reacted so violently to the sound of fear in her uncle's voice?

"Not exactly," came a sweetly purred response.

It wasn't a voice Adelaide recognized. But the tone—so effortlessly disgusting—traveled across her uncle's study, slipped through the open door, and was soon crawling on Adelaide's skin, inching across her goosebumps in a slow, parasitic torment.

"What do you want with them?" she heard her uncle whisper.

"Oh, you look so scared," Adelaide heard the other voice say. "Do you like those children? Did they grow on you? They do that you know. Fester in people's hearts, like cute, harmless funguses…"

"What are you going to do to them? Are you going to do…" the priest's voice faltered mid-sentence.

Inside, a very young girl crossed the room and leaned over the priest's desk. She smiled beautifully, only for her looks to be ruined by her condescending, narrowed eyes. "What your idiot son did? No, we can't make our own soldiers, Father," she purred. "Stupid humans have to do it for us."

"Then the white-haired boy… When he spoke of danger… was he speaking of you?"

"Actually, no…" Road Camelot said thoughtfully. She pouted childishly, looking at the priest with sad puppy eyes. "I wish I could've been the one Allen spoke of though…" she trailed off. As she looked off in the distance, she started suddenly and moved her eyes quickly to catch a peripheral glance at the priest. "But that's interesting… they already think they're in danger?"

The man's nostrils flared in anger. "I said, 'what do you want with them'?"

Road yawned. "Oh, you're so _boring_, Father." She pushed herself off the desk, and crossed her arms. "I have orders not to… play with you, you know," she sniffed. "We don't like crossing anyone involved with Marian. Doing that usually brings more trouble than it's worth."

The priest's eyes flickered, softening gently.

Road snorted. "Oh, you thought I made such a visit for you? Oh please," she drawled, "don't flatter yourself. Your wife," she said, caressing the cherry wood desk, "was a horrible soldier for our cause, after all. Though she did take a lot of beautiful lives…" Road said thoughtfully. "More of your family, correct? That young newlywed couple," she said, eyeing the shaking priest. Her eyes scanned over the man, clearly trembling with fear from the memory. "What a pity," she cooed, leaning closer towards the paralyzed man. "You should've gone too, just look at you. You became a 'Father', huh? Because that turned out so well the first time!" Road laughed at him.

Twirling around quickly, she walked towards a chair and sat down, holding the weight of her head with a bent wrist. "So don't worry. I just said you're boring, didn't I? I don't want you at _all_. And Marian's involvement has made sure I won't. But those… children," the girl grinned wickedly. "It's them I want. I want to play—my life's so boring you know—and for the benefit of all of us, I want to ensure that they will be married by you, specifically. You're the insurance."

"Why?" the priest choked out.

"Why what? Why the children? Why you? Well, we're quite fond of those two, my family and I," Road grinned. "We just want to make sure the congratulatory gift we've planned won't be going to waste… just because a scared priest didn't go through with marrying them, because he found out they were _exorcists_."

When the priest didn't answer, Road sighed heavily and stood up. "Take my word. I like to play as much as possible, but we're only here for the couple. We're not here for you, or your pretty little niece hiding behind the door."

Adelaide's heart beat rapidly, coming from compete shock in being so casually targeted. She heard her uncle shout her name. She felt the thump of a fallen chair vibrate through the floor. Distantly, she knew her uncle was scrambling to meet her on the other side of the door. But she didn't hear any of it because—underneath the concentrated thumping of her own heart—the sound of that… _monster's _laughter was ringing too loud, bouncing off the walls of her uncle's study, echoing in her mind… and it wouldn't leave.

"Oh, my child," she heard a rough whisper above her. In a trance, she looked up to see her uncle grimacing at her. Barely touching fifty, he was still fairly young: no prominent wrinkles; hair color still intact; no health complications. But with him being so close—towering over her in the small of the door—she couldn't help but notice the stress glowing in his fearful eyes.

Without words, her face crumpled, and she walked forward—head down—into her uncle's embrace. Soothingly, he wrapped his arms around her, smoothing her red waves with a gentle hand. "Please," she heard her uncle painfully whisper, "please don't cry, my child."

And it was only when he said that that Adelaide realized she had been.

* * *

**(A/N: Dundundun! More action to come… Just a warning, but we're going into darker and darker territory now… Bring on the dramatized angst, mwahahahaha.**

**Please leave reviews and CC, please! Thanks for all the support, despite my incredibly long hiatus! You guys are awesome!)**


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